Women in Kansas City began shaking their domestic bonds in the late 19th century, forming organizations to provide charitable relief, reform society’s ills, and claim space for themselves in the body politic. From abolitionist Sarah Coates to science educator Josephine Silone Yates, they helped shape Kansas City and exerted influence nationally through their leadership of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and other groups.

In a discussion of his new book Benevolence, Moral Reform, Equality: Women’s Activism in Kansas City, 1870 to 1940, author David Hanzlick traces the evolution of women’s activism in Kansas City from the post-Civil War era through the demise of the Pendergast political machine. Hanzlick is the director of program and development at Sheffield Place, a shelter for homeless mothers and their children.