Portrait of a young Ellen Walker Jones Brown, visible from the waist up. She is wearing a dark-colored dress with a lighter pattern printed on it. A handwritten note on the back says "Milam Aunt, 1995 Living in LA over 100 yrs."

In this study the term "woman's movement" is defined as any advancement made by women, socially, economically, legally, or politically. In addition to information gathered from various collections, memoirs, diaries, and contemporary newspaper accounts of Louisiana women's activities, material from a number of pertinent secondary works is included. Chapter one gives a brief overview of the women's movement as it developed in America in the latter half of the 19th century. This is followed by a chapter on women in Louisiana before 1879- Evidence suggests that a number of Louisiana women shared a common bond with other southern women in longing for an emancipation from their limited role in society. The last six chapters are devoted to the woman's movement in the state, beginning in 1879 when women first dared to to speak out in public in behalf of women. After the Civil War, a large number of women were forced by post war conditions to depart from the traditional life-style of home and family and venture into public life. Liberated from their societal mold, women slowly expanded their sphere, going beyond the immediate need to provide a livelihood. Early women's organizations, temperance unions, church societies, and women's clubs, provided …