North Carolina Women - by Margaret Supplee Smith & Emily Herring Wilson (Paperback)

About the Book

The only book that recognizes the influence of women in the making of North Carolina, from prehistory through World War II. By recovering the diversity of women's lives and experiences, the authors establish women's critical influence on the state's economy, character, and values.

Book Synopsis

For generations, books on North Carolina history have included the names of only a few women. But in addition to such well-known and legendary figures as Queen Elizabeth I and Virginia Dare, a multitude of other women influenced the making of North Carolina. These women's stories have rarely been told, in part because their contributions tended to occur in the relative privacy of their families and communities.

This lively and comprehensive volume finally accords North Carolina women their long-awaited place in history. Margaret Supplee Smith and Emily Herring Wilson bring together a wealth of materials to demonstrate how North Carolina women lived, from the days of early native settlements to the end of World War II. Filled with names, places, colorful anecdotes, and more than two hundred photographs and documents that bring to life important moments in history, North Carolina Women establishes the critical influence of women in shaping the character and economy of the state and the values of its citizens.

The narratives embedded in women's history, presented chronologically, create an enormous landscape across time -- broadly analyzed and meticulously detailed. By considering the particular contours of gender, race, class, religion, and geography, the authors reveal the diversity and complexity of women's lives and experiences. Interspersed throughout the book are biographies of twenty-two North Carolina women, from Cherokee Beloved Woman Nanye'hi and frontierswoman Rebecca Bryan Boone to civil rights scholar and priest Pauli Murray and political activist Gladys Avery Tillett.

Review Quotes

[F]ills in some of the holes left in other books that claim to tell how North Carolina came to be.

Raleigh "News and Observer"

A useful reference for historians yet accessible to a general audience as well.

"Journal of Southern History"

Its uniqueness gives it wings and its incomparable execution is sure to earn it accolades in more than one field.

"Durham Herald-Sun"

Stunning in scope, elegantly presented, and meticulously researched.

Alan D. Watson, University of North Carolina at Wilmington

This is a book for all North Carolinians of whatever race, age or sex.

Anne Firor Scott, Duke University

ÝF¨ills in some of the holes left in other books that claim to tell how North Carolina came to be.

Raleigh "News and Observer"

"Stunning in scope, elegantly presented, and meticulously researched.

Alan D. Watson, University of North Carolina at Wilmington"

"This is a book for all North Carolinians of whatever race, age or sex.

Anne Firor Scott, Duke University"

About the Author

Margaret Supplee Smith is professor of art at Wake Forest University. She coordinated the North Carolina Women's History Project for the North Carolina Museum of History and curated the women's history exhibition that opened the museum's new building. Emily Herring Wilson is author of Two Gardeners: Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence -- A Friendship in Letters and No One Gardens Alone: A Life of Elizabeth Lawrence. She lives in Winston-Salem.