Topics Related to Women's History Month

Dolley Madison was Born a Tar Heel

In an era when male soldiers and politicians usually dominated, Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States and Washington socialite, exemplified the dutiful wife and tactful hostess who achieved with charm what her husband accomplished with command.

The Scottish Heroine That Called North Carolina Home

Famous heroine Flora MacDonald immigrated to North Carolina after her imprisonment in Scotland for her involvement in a plot to help usher Prince Charles Edward Stuart of Scotland to safety after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.

The Indefatigable Aunt Abby

Abby House, known widely as “Aunt Abby,” was born around 1796 and lived much of her life near Franklinton.  House dedicated herself to care for Confederate soldiers in need during the Civil War. Described by Governor Zebulon Vance as “the ubiquitous, indefatigable and inevitable Mrs. House,” House often paid visits to various leaders of the Confederacy, including Jefferson Davis.

Noted Confederate Spy Died in Wilmington

Rose O’Neal Greenhow, a widowed Washington socialite turned Confederate spy, drowned near Fort Fisher.

A Female Lawyer in the 1600s

At a court session in May 1673, Ann Durant became the first woman to act in the capacity of an attorney in North Carolina.

Folk Pottery Sees New Life

The success of the pottery industry in the area around Seagrove, also known as Jugtown, is largely the result of the work of Jacques and Juliana Busbee.

The First Lady of Parachuting

“Tiny” Broadwick, remembered as the “First Lady of Parachuting,” holds a place in The Guinness Book of World Records for her achievements as a parachutist.

Frankie Silver—First Woman Hanged in North Carolina

All this month we’re bringing you stories from North Carolina women’s history. Check back here each week day for a new tidbit on the women of our state’s past.

A Champion of Good Roads

Harriet Morehead Berry, often called the champion of good roads, was born in 1877 in Hillsborough.

Evelyn B. Whitlow—Nurse and Prisoner of War

Evelyn B. Whitlow was serving as a nurse in the Philippines when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. She was captured following the fall of the Philippines in May 1942. One of the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor, these nurses were the first group of American women taken as prisoners of war.