Call Her a Citizen: Progressive-Era Activist and Educator Anna Pennybacker (review)

This work provides a complex portrait of a remarkably accomplished woman who, if she had been born male, no doubt would have attained positions of even greater public authority and power. Anna Hardwicke Pennybacker (1861–1938) was born in Virginia but spent most of her life in Texas. Trained as a teacher, she enjoyed a successful career in public schools and authored a popular textbook on Texas history in the 1880s. After her husband Percy’s death in 1899, she channeled her considerable writing, oratorical, and organizational skills into work with numerous women’s and political organizations. Pennybacker held prominent positions in, among other groups, the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Chautauqua Women’s Club, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and the Democratic National Committee. All of these organizations highly prized her skillful use of persuasive speech and print media for educational, publicity, and fundraising purposes.

Pennybacker’s value as a leader was enhanced by her sharp political acumen. She had an expert grasp of timing and strategy that made her particularly effective at handling controversial issues. For example, as president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs she bridged the divide between conservative southern white women and women’s rights activists by muting her advocacy of woman suffrage enough to keep conservatives in the fold, while showing just enough support for the issue to appease suffragists. Although this alienated some members of the suffrage movement, she reconciled with both the Texas and national factions by assisting in their campaigns after stepping down from the presidency. She similarly negotiated the race question by accepting the legitimacy of white supremacy without resorting to the racist rhetoric employed by southern suffragists such as Kate Gordon of Louisiana. Once ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment appeared inevitable, she worked with the Democratic National Committee to educate women voters and secure their support for the party of the South. It was only after World War I that her diplomatic skills failed her. She participated in international relief work and publicly endorsed the League of Nations and World Court, but was unable to find an effective middle ground in women’s organizations between ultra-patriotic groups like the Daughters of the American Revolution and advocates of disarmament and peace.

This is by far the most complete and critical account of Pennybacker’s public life published to date, although there are a few areas in which it is lacking. The introduction does not contain the sort of overarching thesis on the significance of her life needed to ground the reader in the narrative. Admittedly, the author discusses in her conclusion the difficulties of formulating such a thesis, but simply providing some initial generalizations as to Pennybacker’s place within Southern progressivism would have been helpful. The book also fails to explain the place of Mexican Americans in the racial politics of Texas progressivism. The author notes that Pennybacker’s history textbook referred to “lazy and insolent Mexicans” who challenged Anglo property rights (52), but there is no effort to explain how Hispanics figured into either public education or the suffrage issue. Despite these omissions, Call Her a Citizen makes important contributions to the history of education, Texas, and progressivism through its exhaustive examination of Pennybacker’s activism. Its account of the roles she and her husband played in pedagogical reform and the professionalization of teaching breaks new ground in Texas educational history. Moreover, by tracing Pennybacker’s journey from school teacher to political operative the author broadens the concept of education and reminds us of its connections to personal and political power. Although Pennybacker’s life may defy easy generalization, this study should inspire other historians to give it the attention it deserves.