CHAPTER XXXII.
NORTH CAROLINA.[1]
Previous to 1913 interest in woman suffrage in North Carolina was still dormant and no attempt had been made at organization. This year, without any outside pressure, a handful of awakening women met on July 10 at the home of Dr. Isaac M. Taylor of Morgantown to arrange for gathering into a club those in sympathy with the woman suffrage movement. Those present were Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Hosfeldt, Mrs. Hughson, Miss Allen, Miss Riddell, Miss Julia Erwin and Miss Kate Pearsall, who was elected secretary. Mrs. Hosfeldt was chosen for president and Miss Mamie Collett for vice-president. Mrs. Hughson, Mrs. Taylor and Miss Erwin were appointed to formulate the purposes of the society which it was agreed to call the Morgantown Equal Suffrage Association.
At the next meeting in Miss Erwin's home July 14 Miss Coffey acted as recording secretary and the organization was completed. Societies were formed in Greenville and Charlotte and through the efforts of Miss Susanne Bynum and Miss Anna Forbes Liddell of Charlotte a meeting was called in that city in November to form a State Association. The following officers were chosen: President, Mrs. Archibald Henderson, Chapel Hill; vice presidents, Mrs. Eugene Reilley, Charlotte; Miss Gertrude Weil, Goldsboro; Mrs. Malcolm Platt, Asheville; corresponding secretary, Miss Bynum; recording secretary, Miss Liddell; treasurer, Mrs. David Stern, Greensboro. Mrs. Lila Meade Valentine, president of the Virginia Equal Suffrage League, was the principal speaker. A charter was subsequently obtained for the Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina, Inc., the charter members numbering about 200 men and women, representing every class and section in the State. The League be-
- ↑ The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Clara Booth Byrd, a member of the faculty of the North Carolina College for Women.
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