Considering the Past: Topics in M.C. History

During the weekly meeting of the Astrotekton Literary Society on October 24, 1908, members debated: "Resolved: That women's suffrage is desirable." The team arguing for the affirmative was victorious. This report of the meeting was published in the November 1908 Acorn. 

Predictions for the lives of the Class of 1909 in 1929  were printed in the yearbook. Louie Poteat was expected to be a lecturing suffragist touring the south. While written tongue-in-check, such predictions brought to the forefront a student's interests and outlook.

John Bull of England appears relieved that the suffrage movement has migrated to the United States. This was the only year that the editor of the Oak Leaves included such cartoons (this was one of three), possibly doing so to capture the mood of the 1910 campus.

In a list of "Leap Year Hopefuls," of the Class of 1912, Fannie is identified, for better or worse, as a suffragette.

The meaning behind this illustration in the 1913 Oak Leaves is unclear, but the line "She, the suffragette, with the Byron collar," possibly referenced a particular student - or perhaps was intended as a reflection of the student body. 

During the Philaretian ("Phis") Society meeting in March 1913, members, acting as members of the legislature, argued a bill on Women's Suffrage. In a rare show of anti-suffrage feeling, after "very heated arguments," the bill was defeated. This report was printed in the March, 1913 Acorn magazine.

In an illustration touting the advertisers in the 1913 yearbook, a woman stumping for the women's vote makes an appearance with a banner. The headline for the page?: "Our advertisers have a democratic program."

An article in the December 1914 Acorn reported on a joint meeting of the Astros and Phis literary societies. Judge Walter Clark, then the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, spoke in favor of woman's suffrage. According to the Dictionary of American Biography, Clark "was a forceful supporter of woman's suffrage and served as legal adviser to the North Carolina League of Women Voters." 

A 1915 Acorn story describes that year's Stunt performance; the Juniors portrayed themselves as legislators considering "man suffrage." The politicians fear that allowing men to vote would "corrupt him" or "alienate his love of home and family" - arguments that were being made against the vote for women. 

In the early years of the Oak Leaves yearbook, essays, poems and stories were often included.  In this except from a 1915 short story, "Height of the Ridiculous," graduating seniors consider their available vocations: marriage or suffrage. In a later paragraph, one of students celebrates the attributes of a potential husband, including supporting a woman's right to vote. 

Thirteen students posed for a 1915 yearbook photograph as the "Equal Rights for Women" club. Many clubs on campus only existed for any given year, and it is possible that these young women did not meet regularly as we think of as a club, and unfortunately there are no records of this organization's activities. Like so many things in the yearbooks, the costumes are not explained, but the students may have dressed to recognize the many roles that women do or could play in society. 

The 1915 yearbook seems to be the most vocal edition promoting women's suffrage, possibly because of recent hearings before the House Judiciary Committee (March 1914), numerous parades and demonstrations nationwide (May 1914), as well as the votes in the Senate (March 1914) and in the House of Representatives (January 1915) regarding the federal woman's suffrage amendment. Ada Briggs, editor of the 1915 Oak Leaves, is included in the photograph. 

Song

"It's a long way to the ballot

It's a long way to go

It's along way up to the ballot

But it's there that we would go.

Farewell, you need not worry

The men will still care.

It's a long way up to the ballot

But our heart's right there."

In what appears to be an illustration furnished by the printing company, four women witness a vision promoting votes for women. The 1915 yearbook seems to be the most vocal edition promoting women's suffrage, possibly because of hearings before the House Judiciary Committee (March 1914), numerous parades and demonstrations nationwide, as well as the votes in the Senate (March 1914) and in the House of Representatives (January 1915) regarding the federal woman's suffrage amendment. That year's editor of the Oak Leaves, Ada Briggs, was a member of the Equal Rights for Women club featured on page 93.  

In the 1915 Oak Leaves, a cartoon of an English class indicates that students had other things on their minds besides the lecture, including the Astro Society, the YWCA store, the yearbook, basketball, and the vote.

In this 1915 letter written by Meredith College president Richard Vann, he supports the "privilege" of women to vote, provided that they want it. Vann's opinion, while still fairly conservative, seems to support his students' views. 

New of the alumnae was reported in early editions of the Acorn, including an update about Margeurite Higgs (Class of 1915), who hoped to form a "suffragette organization" in Greenville, NC. This note was published in the February 1916 Acorn.

The students held a mock presidential election on campus in late November, 1916. According to the writer,  the suffragists were one of the "modern forces of today." The outcome as reported in this 1916 Acorn?: "Meredith for Wilson."

This short story, "The Sprinting Suffragette," printed in the 1916 Oak Leaves, was probably written by Leila Higgs, herself an "ardent suffragette." In the story, Roberta, a student at the "Girl's School in the City" writes to her father that as a member of the newly formed Equal Suffrage League, she and her sister students "recognize themselves to have equal brains with men, to be more possessed in money matters, and to be fully equal to walking twenty miles the day... and to go full-fledged to the poll to vote equal with the men. Hurrah for the women of the U.S.A.!"

In 1916, the senior class's superlatives were published in a list that unfolded out of a ballot box labeled "Votes for Women."

In her senior class biography, Leila Higgs (Class of 1917) was labeled an "ardent suffragette," and the topic was included in an illustration of what was on her mind that year. 

As she prepared to graduate in 1917, suffrage ws also on the mind of Sophia Knott.

In this short story, "Votes for Wommin," that appeared in the December 1917 Acorn, the writer presents what was intended as a humorous domestic story regarding women’s suffrage through an unlikely observer. Mamie Carroll writes in dialect in a first person monologue by an African-American man (“Uncle Joe”) describing the ongoing debate within his employer’s household. The women – an unnamed wife (“de missus”), a daughter (“little miss”) and a domestic (“my Jemimy”) are in favor of suffrage for women, therefore setting up a clash with “de Cap’n.” Nevertheless, in a private, pragmatic conversation, the two men agree that if the women of the country want the vote, they will get it.

Despite the stereotyped imagery and language, which was not uncommon in stories published in the Acorn, Carroll (Class of 1920) conveys through this unexpected spokesperson the emotion and arguments of pro-suffrage women. And if it is not clear here what Carroll’s position might be, she is a signatory on the 1918 Meredith College petition sent to the North Carolina Senate urging the members to vote for the “Federal Suffrage Amendment.”

In early 1918, 188 students (and at least one instructor) signed a petition in support of the "Federal Suffrage Amendment" to be presented to North Carolina senators Furnifold M. Simmons and Lee S Overman asking them to support the the "Federal Suffrage Amendment." Nevertheless, on June 4th, the senators joined the minority opposition in the final tally. This copy is in the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh. Petitions from students at Peace College and from the State Normal Industrial College (now UNCG) were also submitted. 

In an article in The Charlotte Observer on February 14, 1918 noting the creation of these petition, the paper pointed out as significant that students from "one of the strongest Baptist colleges in the south" were in support of women's suffrage. 

In 1918, a large group of students posed on the steps of Main Building with a banner “Equal Suffrage League.” The College Equal Suffrage League (founded in 1900) was a national organization whose mission was to involve students in the women's suffrage movement by fostering branches on college campuses. This photo may have been organized to honor a petition signed that same critical year by nearly 200 Meredith students and presented to North Carolina senators Furnifold M. Simmons and Lee S. Overman, asking that they support the Federal Suffrage Amendment. (A copy of the petition is in the State Archives.) Dressed in all-white, possibly accented by the suffrage movement’s colors of purple and gold, the women make a dramatic front. Nevertheless, on June 4th, the senators joined the opposition in the final tally.

North Carolina did not ratify the 19th Amendment until 1971. 

According to her 1918 senior biography, Earla Ball managed multiple activities while at Meredith College, including supporting suffrage. Ball was a member of the Equal Suffrage League. 

In this essay titled "Woman Suffrage in North Carolina," from the March/April, 1920 issue of the Acorn, the writer reminds the students of the important role North Carolina might play in the ratification of what would be the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution – as well as of the role of potentially newly enfranchised voters.

In May 1920, the Acorn reported that the North Carolina State Democratic Convention had endorsed the ratification of what had been nicknamed the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment." The article also references Dr. Delia Dixon-Carroll (pictured, right), the college’s physician since its opening in 1899. While a respected figure in the community, one of Dr. Dixon-Carroll’s motives for promoting woman’s suffrage in speeches was to insure that white women’s votes would help ensure political hegemony over African-Americans.