Women's Forum Oral History Collection Interview Index

Virginia Willis Adamson was born February 1956 in Birmingham, Alabama. Both her mother and father finished high school and attended business school. Her father worked in insurance sales and her mother worked as a secretary. Adamson attended public schools in Birmingham and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Adamson has worked in a variety of engineering and business development roles and has worked for Volvo since 1982. She was inspired to join the women’s rights movement in the 1970s after her experience being only one of three women in her graduating class from her engineering program. Focused on her career during the initial ratification movement, Adamson became involved with ERA ratification work after it failed to pass before the 1982 deadline. Working alongside groups like the Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs in North Carolina (BPW of NC) and the North Carolina Women’s Forum, she has lobbied and advocated for the ratification of the amendment, as well as other legislation for women’s issues, in Washington, DC and Raleigh. Adamson has served in leadership roles in organizations such as the BPW of NC and the ERA NC Alliance. Adamson and her husband live near Greensboro, North Carolina. Their daughter also lives in North Carolina.