Julia Ward Howe's later years were marked by many involvements. From the 1870s Julia Ward lectured widely. Many came to see her because of her fame as the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic; she needed the lecture income because her inheritance had finally, through a cousin's mismanagement, become depleted. Her themes were usually about service over fashion, and reform over frivolity.
She preached often in Unitarian and Universalist churches. She continued to attend the Church of the Disciples, led by her old friend James Freeman Clarke, and often spoke in its pulpit. Beginning in 1873, she hosted an annual gathering of women ministers, and in the 1870s helped to found the Free Religious Association.
She also became active in the woman's club movement, serving as president of the New England Women's Club from 1871. She helped found the Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW) in 1873, serving as president from 1881.
In January 1876, Samuel Gridley Howe died. Just before he died, he confessed to Julia several affairs he'd had, and the two apparently reconciled their long antagonism. The new widow traveled for two years in Europe and the Middle East. When she returned to Boston, she renewed her work for women's rights.
In 1883 she published a biography of Margaret Fuller, and in 1889 helped bring about the merger of the AWSA with the rival suffrage organization, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, forming the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
In 1890 she helped to found the General Federation of Women's Clubs, an organization which eventually displaced the AAW. She served as director and was active in many of its activities, including helping to found many clubs during her lecture tours.
Other causes in which she involved herself included support for Russian freedom and for the Armenians in the Turkish wars, taking once again a stand that was more militant than pacifist in its sentiments.
In 1893, Julia Ward Howe participated in events at the Chicago Columbian Exposition (World's Fair), including chairing a session and presenting a report on "Moral and Social Reform" at the Congress of Representative Women.
In her last years, she was often compared to Queen Victoria, whom she somewhat resembled and who was her senior by exactly three days.
When Julia Ward Howe died in 1910, four thousand people attended her memorial service. Samuel G. Eliot, head of the American Unitarian Association, gave the eulogy at her funeral at the Church of the Disciples.
Next page: Relevance to Women's History
Julia Ward Howe Biography
- About Julia Ward Howe - Basics and Bibliography
- Early Years: Julia Ward and Samuel Gridley Howe
- Abolition and the Civil War
- Writing the Battle Hymn of the Republic
- Mother's Day and Peace
- Woman Suffrage
- Later Life
- Reflections on Women's History
Julia Ward Howe Writings
- Julia Ward Howe Quotes
- Battle Hymn of the Republic, by Julia Ward Howe - first published version
- Battle Hymn of the Republic - manuscript version
- Battle Hymn of the Republic - later versions
- Mother's Day Proclamation, by Julia Ward Howe
- The Other Side of the Woman Question - Julia Ward Howe, 1879
- "What Is Religion?" 1893, Julia Ward Howe
More About Julia Ward Howe
- Julia Ward Howe Picture
- Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day for Peace
- Julia Ward Howe: More Resources
- Harriet Townsend on Julia Ward Howe
