Clara Bourland

Champion of Social Justice

Clara Parsons Bourland

Clara Parsons Bourland (1838 – 1929) was a significant influencer of women – empowering women through the arts, education and politics and promoting their right to vote. Bourland was an early suffragist. Born in 1838 in West Granville, MA, Clara attended eastern schools before moving to Chicago to work as a teacher. She moved to Peoria upon her marriage in 1869 to widower Benjamin Bourland who worked in business and real estate. Over the next seventeen years, Clara raised eight children – their six (two boys and four girls) as well as her husband’s two sons from his first marriage.

In 1880, Clara packed up her family and moved to Paris, the cultural capital of the world. Bourland so loved the literature, art and music scene she encountered in Paris that upon her return to Peoria she worked to bring a similar aesthetic to this mid-western town. So, along with 24 other like-minded women, Clara Bourland formed a group that committed to broadening the cultural life of Peoria women. Her passion gave birth to the Peoria Women’s Club. She served as its president for 25 years.

Clara Bourland was also significant in launching the Peoria Equal Suffrage Association. On April 12, 1912 about 75 women met in the Assembly Room of City Hall to organize a Peoria chapter. At this meeting, Bourland was named temporary chairperson charged with forming a committee, drafting a constitution and nominating officers. Bourland fulfilled her responsibilities; Ardella Brown was elected president two weeks later.

But, Clara Bourland didn’t stop there. She joined other community organizations she felt were important. These included Peoria’s Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, the Public Health Nursing Association, the Associated Charities of Peoria and the Peoria Scientific Association formed with her husband. Parsons Bourland left an impressive legacy built on empowering women to be self-confident and self-reliant.

Ellen Kendall Baker

Title Unknown, 1894

(Portrait of Clara Bourland)

Oil on canvas

Courtesy of Peoria Women’s Club