Topics Related to Stories from North Carolina Women's History

On February 13, 1943, the first women to sign up for non-clerical duties enlisted in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve.

Noted African-American educator and founder of the Palmer Memorial Institute, Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown was born in Henderson.

Clubwomen played an important role in shaping North Carolina life during the 20th century. Their influence extended to the ballot box, the workplace, public health, library development, the arts, conservation and literacy. The North Carolina Federation of Women’s Clubs, as the “oldest, largest, charitable, non-denominational, nonpartisan service organization of volunteer women in North Carolina” was organized on May 26, 1902, on the campus of Salem Academy.

A pioneer in the field of sports journalism, Mary Garber worked for the Winston-Salem Journal and its predecessor, the Twin City Sentinel, for more than 60 years.

One of North Carolina’s best known folk heroines, Ella Mae Wiggins is most famous for helping to organize Gaston County mill workers for better working conditions and higher wages.

Though she was first woman postmaster in the United States after the adoption of the Constitution, Sarah Decrow was born and died in near obscurity.

Mary L. Wyche was chiefly responsible for establishing nursing as a profession in North Carolina.

Pioneering North Carolina photographer Bayard Wootten achieved numerous firsts in her field, often endangering her safety to get the picture. Before shifting to photography, she designed the first trademark for Pepsi-Cola. In 1910 Wootten protested sexual discrimination in a professional publication and later took part in suffrage demonstrations.

Perhaps North Carolina’s best known woman suffrage leader, Gertrude Weil came from a long line of social, religious and political activists. Educated at Smith College, she returned to her native Goldsboro and involved herself in several associations, becoming a protégé of women’s rights advocate

Restoring North Carolina’s eighteenth-century capitol, “Tryon’s Palace,” was a daunting prospect in 1929 to all but a small network of visionary ladies, each with ties to the state’s cultural and historic societies.