Learn About Women Who Changed the World

North Carolina suffragists

Women in North Carolina have long been politically active. The first occurrence on record dates back to 1774, when a group of 51 women gathered at the home of Penelope Barker for the Edenton Tea Party, sending a scathing letter to King George III of England announcing a boycott of East Indian tea as long as it is taxed by the British.

The N.C. Equal Suffrage Association headquarters in Raleigh (foreground). The States’ Rights Defense League office (background) opposed the amendment based on belief it infringed on states’ rights.

For almost 150 years following that historic tea boycott, women sought representation, here in North Carolina and across the United States. According to an NC history timeline, those acts of courage, persistence, resistance, and some say defiance, finally came to fruition with the meeting of the Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina in 1914. But it took five more years for the Women’s Suffrage Amendment to make its way through Congress in 1919, then out to the states for ratification. On August 26, 1920, the Women’s Right to Vote officially became the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Today, more than 66 million women cast votes in elections across the country, including almost 3.6 million in North Carolina alone.

To celebrate and educate the 100th anniversary of this momentous occasion, the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (ncdcr.gov) and State Archives of North Carolina (archives.ncdcr.gov) created a 15-month-long traveling exhibit featuring 10 archival documents and other items related to women’s suffrage. Artifacts include both pro- and anti-suffrage propaganda, political cartoons, a suffragist’s sash and the original copy of the 19th Amendment sent to North Carolina for ratification.

The traveling exhibit, which will run through Spring 2021, is part of a larger She Changed the World education initiative throughout the state. Exhibit stops have been planned through December 2020. Visit ncdcr.gov for an updated schedule.