T. Gilbert Pearson: A Legacy of Wildlife Conservation

As one of the early faculty members at the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNC Greensboro), T. Gilbert Pearson (1872-1943) was a favorite among his students, but he is perhaps best known for helping to found the National Association of Audubon Societies. 

T. Gilbert Pearson

Born in Indiana and raised in Florida, Pearson spent his early years developing an interest in nature. He lived with his family in a log cabin in the woods where he collected and sold rare and valuable eggs. He also traded the eggs for books about birds. By the age of 18, he had amassed a significant collection of eggs and mounted birds and parlayed it into payment toward a college tuition and board. In 1891, Guilford College, a private Quaker college located in Greensboro, North Carolina, agreed to accept the young man’s offer if he would consent to mount additional birds for the school’s ornithological museum. He had a very successful college life at Guilford College, becoming active in academic organizations and campus sports. After graduation, Pearson entered the University of North Carolina, located in Chapel Hill, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He then returned to Guilford College to teach biology and continued his interest in the preservation of the state’s dwindling bird population.

State Normal Biology Classroom with Pearson's Birds

In 1901, Pearson decided to accept a position at the State Normal as the chair of the geology and biology department. His natural teaching style made him immediately beloved by the students. Virginia Brown (Class of 1902) recalled Pearson was "young, eager, the sort of person to whom each day seemed fresh as if just created. We caught his spirit." The young professor impressed the students by reciting poetry and telling them stories about the birds and animal life he had seen in the wild before morning class. Believing that nature was the best teacher, he often left the confines of the classroom to hold sessions in his “laboratory,” Peabody Park, sometimes joined by equally captivated faculty members. The existence of this campus park enabled him to teach the young women in his charge about local birds and their migratory patterns. Thus, when they became teachers, they could pass the information to their students.

Pearson (lower left) on an outing near Pilot Mountain, 1893

The school’s president, Charles Duncan McIver, encouraged the young professor and asked him to establish a museum of native birds. It was during his time at the State Normal that Pearson wrote Stories of Bird Life and organized the first Audubon Society in North Carolina. He also served as Managing Editor of The State Normal Magazine.

Pearson's Stories of Bird Life

Pearson’s life progressively would progressively take a turn toward conservation. In 1903, he became the Secretary of the National Audubon Society and State Game Commissioner. He also began to lobby the North Carolina legislature to pass a law that would give the Audubon Society the right to enforce wildlife laws in the state. This would be known as the “Audubon Act,” allowing a private organization to have public authority and creating the South’s first wildlife commission. Although McIver wanted to retain him on the faculty, Pearson left in 1904 to become a full-time agent for the newly formed National Association of Audubon Societies. He later became president of the organization.

Pearson continued as a prolific speaker and writer on behalf of North Carolina’s wildlife, penning an autobiography, Adventures in Bird Protection, as well as The Bird Study Book and Birds of North Carolina and serving as co-editor of the three-volume book, Birds of America. He would move into a national role in conservation, becoming secretary, and later president of the National Association of Audubon Societies.

John Burroughs Memorial Association Medal

After spending his life working toward the conservation of the state’s wildlife, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of North Carolina in 1924. Additionally, Pearson received the medal of the John Burroughs Association and was honored in France with the medal of the Society National d’Acclimatation. He passed away in in 1943 and now lays buried next to his wife Elise Weatherly Pearson (a State Normal alumna, Class of 1896) in Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro.  

Laura Weill Cone: Alumna and Suffragist

Laura Weill, Class of 1910

Laura Weill, Class of 1910, was one of the most illustrious alumna to graduate from the State Normal and Industrial College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). Weill was born on September 19, 1888 in Wilmington, North Carolina, to prominent lawyer Solomon Weill and his wife, Elinora. In 1906, she entered Dana Hall School, a preparatory institution for Wellesley College, and transferred to State Normal the following year. She distinguished herself at State Normal as the president of her graduating class of 1910; Editor-in-Chief of the State Normal Magazine and The Carolinian; and the Vice-President of the Athletic Association. She was even the author of The College Song, which focused on loyalty and the school’s devotion to service. Service had been an important part of State Normal’s mission, but it was the motto of the Class of 1910, and they “willed it” to the college during graduation.

Weill also showed an interest in women’s rights while she was at State Normal, penning “Self-Government in Women’s College,” for a school essay. Upon graduation, Laura Weill taught high school in Wilmington, North Carolina, but then returned to Greensboro where in 1917, she became the first woman on the Greensboro School Board. Weill married lawyer David Stern (1882-1915) and they had one child, Frances (1913-1993). After Stern’s death, she married Julius W. Cone, a member of a prominent Greensboro textile family and president of Cone Export Commission Company, a division of Cone Mills. They had two sons, Edward Toner (1917-2004) and Julius Washington (1920-1925). 

Cone continued her interest in educational causes, and also became a strong advocate for women’s rights, serving as Treasurer and Vice-President of the Greensboro Equal Suffrage League. She also worked with other North Carolina suffragists, such as Gertrude Weil and Louise Alexander, to push for the ratification of the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. She joined in their disappointment when the North Carolina legislature postponed the vote on suffrage, thus allowing Tennessee to become the thirty-sixth state to ratify the Amendment, the number required for women to gain the right to vote. The Amendment was not ratified in North Carolina until 1971.

Cone Residence Hall

Cone remained active in the community, promoting women’s rights, labor, and racial equality. When Woman’s College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) librarian Charles Adams was criticized for allowing black students from Bennett College and North Carolina A & T to use the school library, Cone strongly defended him. She also continued to support local education initiatives, serving on the Board of Trustees for Bennett College, a local historically black liberal arts college for women, for almost three decades. She also served for twenty-two years on the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), and as a member of its executive committee from 1934 until 1953. When discussion began regarding the possible co-education of Woman’s College, Cone opposed it, as did many of the administration faculty, feeling that there would always be a place for a public women’s college. Her influence on campus also included architectural choices. Cone's taste in architecture was traditional and she preferred a more cohesive campus plan, continuing the Georgian design prevalent in many of the buildings on College Avenue. Ironically, she would have a residence hall named in her honor in 1967, reflecting the typically modern architecture of the time.

Her interests also included community health, and she was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Moses Cone Memorial Hospital, where she died in 1970 after a brief illness.

The Flu Pandemic of 1918: The "Fourth Horseman" Comes to State Normal

In 1918, an influenza pandemic began to spread across the globe. In the U.S., about 28% of the population became infected, and 500,000 to 675,000 people died over the course the next two years. The campus of the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) was, of course, not immune to this easily-transmitted disease. In October 1918, the disease found the College, and campus administrators had to made quick decisions on the best course of action to protect the students and limit the spread of the flu.

Instead of suspending operations as some schools did at the time, State Normal President Julius Foust made the decision to instead quarantine students to the campus. From October through December, students were unable to leave campus, and guests were not permitted to visit. One alumnae wrote:

Wooden Dormitory (approximate site of the Alumni House today)

"It was that fall when the Fourth Horseman on his livid steed was abroad in the land. Pestilence, in the form of deadly influenza epidemic, was sweeping the country. No city, village, or hamlet was spared. It reached the campus as I remember in October. Several hundred girls contracted it ... A rigid quarantine was enforced. No one was allowed to leave the campus, no going to town, no weekends at home, only walks into the country were permitted."

Several hundred students were infected -- so many that the campus infirmary could not hold them all. Wooden Dormitory (also known as Guilford Hall) was converted into a makeshift hospital. But fortunately, none of the students contracted pneumonia, and no deaths resulted. As President Foust wrote in his unpublished history of the College, "This was remarkable in view of the fact that many more people died from flu in this country than were killed in the war [note: Foust is referring to World War I]. Both faculty and students had relatives and friends in the army and frequently a report would come that a loved one had been killed or died from influenza, but these sorrows were endured with Christian fortitude."

The pledge signed by students prior to leaving campus in December 1918

By December, the influenza outbreak on campus had subsided enough that Foust decided that the students should be allowed to return home for the holiday break. But each student was required to sign an agreement pledging to report any illnesses in their home, avoid possible sources of the disease, and reporting to the infirmary for a health assessment immediately upon returning to the school.

When the holiday period end and student returned to State Normal, they faced a week of final exams. But, as soon as those were complete, they began to celebrate the end of the semester and of the full campus quarantine by planning a large gala event for the evening of February 3, 1919. As reported in the Greensboro Daily News:

"Memories of long, dreary weeks of quarantine were forgotten, and mirth reigned supreme through the spacious dining hall, when at 7:30 o'clock last evening students of the State Normal and Industrial College participated in one of the most elaborate entertainments in the history of the college.

The first event of the evening was, perhaps, the most impressive when 700 young ladies, dressed in quaint costumes, formed a long, gala procession and passed in review before the judging members of the faculty ... After the procession had ended a unique program, arranged by Misses Clarence Winder and Lula Martin McIver, was given, including farce scenes of "what might have been" and "what actually happened" during the quarantine. A liberal sprinkling of humor was traced through the numerous sketches given, and the effect was indeed ludicrous.

During the latter hours of the evening a delightful dance was given in which the majority of the young ladies participated. Between dances several vaudeville sketches were presented, including aesthetic dancing, ballet scenes in which the students were dressed in colonial costumes, "buck and wing dancing," and other forms of the Terpischorean art."

The Rise of Campus Dramatics (Part II): Plays and Pageants

While the earliest campus presentations were staged as entertainment for visits by state dignitaries, increasingly, other sources of student entertainment began to sprout up at the State Normal and Industrial School (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). Recitals were planned by music professor Wade Brown, who also assisted the campus Literary Societies in staging elaborate operettas.



The Little Minister, 1910

The Literary Societies were created in 1893 as social organizations that focused the energy of the student body on debates, dramatic productions, and social activities. In the early years, there were only two Societies (Adelphian and Cornelian), but as the school’s enrollment grew, two additional organizations were added (the Dikean in 1918 and the Aletheian in 1923). Involvement in plays and pageants were a popular benefit of belonging to a Literary Society and the students enjoyed participating in theatrical events that allowed them to dress in ornate costumes.

In the early years, the students at the all-girl State Normal played both male and female roles in the productions. Following 19th century conventions, the school’s Lady Principal, Sue Mae Kirkland, would not allow the girls who held the male parts to wear pants. Instead, they wore long black skirts. By at least 1910, as seen in still photographs of the production of The Little Minister, students were allowed to wear black bloomers instead. It was not until 1911 that the students could wear pants on stage.

In most part, the school plays were held in the auditorium or “chapel” of the Main Building (now the Foust Building). When the Students’ Building was completed in 1902, each society had a separate meeting room and an auditorium, which included a stage for debates and productions. Yet, not all performances took place inside. A staging of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, performed by the Ben Greet Woodland Players, was given at the outdoor theatre in Peabody Park. This venue was comprised of a wooden stage fronted by a sloping ground, which acted as seating. The theatre was also one of the locations used for the school’s elaborate May Day festivals, the largest of which took place in 1912 and 1916. 

May Day Heralds, 1916



These May Day celebrations, organized by drama professor Mary Settle Sharpe, featured an Old English theme and included large parades with horse-drawn floats, colorful dances, and creative “tableaux vivants.” In 1912, the students presented three plays at several different areas of the campus, which were repeated during the day, enabling 3,000 observers to partake in all of the entertainments. The 1916 May Day event was even larger than the first, again featuring Shakespearean plays performed by elaborately costumed students.



To Arms for Liberty, ca. 1918



As interest in campus theatre grew, the Dramatic Club was formed between 1912 and 1913, to allow girls with a particular interest in theatre to participate more fully in campus productions. Incorporating both a general manager and a business manager, as well as an active membership, the new group performed Booth Tarkington’s The American at the 1913 Commencement exercises. Additionally, special performances such as To Arms for Liberty, which included the students representing the Allied nations as well as American farmers, Red Cross workers, and Liberty Bond representatives, were produced to raise money for World War I mobilization efforts. Yet it wasn’t until 1921, with the arrival of Raymond Taylor, that campus dramatics flourished.

The next installment of The Rise of Campus Dramatics will feature the establishment of the College’s Playlikers group and the hiring of Raymond Taylor, who would become a major figure in campus theatre until his retirement in 1960.

Chancellor Jackson Retires in Style

When Dr. Walter Clinton Jackson stepped into the role of Chancellor of the Woman's College (now UNCG) in 1934 he had big shoes to fill.   Dr. McIver had built the State Normal & Industrial School from the ground up and President Foust had kept it growing and expanding after McIver's death, but Dr. Jackson brought with him a strong belief in the importance of education that would serve him well in his new position with the college.

Dr. Jackson, undated

Dr. Jackson was born and raised on a cotton farm near Hayston, Georgia.  His mother was a big proponent of education and encouraged her son to pursue an advanced degree.  He entered Mercer University at the age of 16, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in 1900.  He taught in public schools in both Georgia and North Carolina before coming to Greensboro in 1905 to serve as the Principal of Greensboro High School (Now Grimsley High School).

In 1909, Dr. Jackson joined the faculty of State Normal as a professor in History.  He was a popular teacher and students flocked to take his course on "Representative Americans."  In fact, so many students took this class that chairs had to be brought in from other classroom to accommodate the size.  His passion for the history showed in his teaching and the past came alive for those he taught.  So much so, that one former student recalled a day "when his enactment of a duel brought forth from a girl, at whom he lunged his imaginary sword, a piercing and hysterical scream."

Throughout his years at State Normal (and then Woman's College), Dr. Jackson moved into new and in more responsible roles.  Shortly after coming to the college, he became head of the History Department.  From 1915-1921 he served as Dean of the College, before taking the newly created position of vice president in 1922.  He left Woman's college in 1932 to serve as the dean of the school of public administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but returned to Woman's College later that year to serve as the Dean of Administration after Dr. Foust retired.

Dr. Jackson had been groomed for the position and was the obvious choice as Dr. Foust's replacement. Dr. Frank Porter Graham, president of the consolidated university, said that Dr. Jackson was the unanimous choice of faculty, students, and alumnae.  Porter spoke with a number of people at the college, and finally conferred with Zeke, who had been at the school since the very beginning. Virginia Vanstory reported the encounter:

When Dr. Graham spoke to Zeke, the venerable staff member confessed that he had been praying over the matter.  

'With what results, Zeke?' Dr. Graham asked.

'Well, the Lord's on Mr. Jackson's side,' Zeke replied, and that, Dr. Graham felt made it unanimous. 

Over the sixteen years that Dr. Jackson served as chancellor, he saw the school through many changes, including including the expansion of the student body to more than double (2200 students) at his retirement in 1950.

Dr. Jackson was a well liked and well respected chancellor.  In his welcoming address to the Freshman class each year, he advised students to come by his office to see him, if only to say 'hello.'  And Freshman took him up on his offer, showing up at his door to report how happy they were with the college or how homesick they felt.

Perhaps the students love for Dr. Jackson was best expressed in the generous retirement gift that the alumnae presented him with, a brand new car!

Car presented to Dr. Jackson by the alumnae in May, 1950.
L to R: Jane Wharton Sockwell, Betty Brown Jester, Dr. Jackson, Jane Summerell, Laura Weil Cone

William Jennings Bryan and His Unlikely Connection to UNCG

William Jennings Bryan was a politician and orator from Nebraska, but his name would become inextricably linked to the history of the State Normal and Industrial College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). His connection to this Southern women’s college may seem unlikely as Bryan is best known for his role as a perennial presidential candidate for the Democratic Party (he was the nominee for the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections), as well as his involvement with the “Scopes Monkey Trial” (The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes).



William Jennings Bryan, ca. 1896

His deep, commanding voice and passionate delivery, contributed to his reputation as one of the most celebrated orators of the era. But Bryan is associated with the College’s history because he delivered the commencement address to the class of 1894, and more importantly, because he witnessed the death of the school’s founder and first president, Charles Duncan McIver. The two men had met in 1894, two years before Bryan gave his famous “Cross of Gold” speech, securing him the Democratic nomination for the 1896 presidential election. McIver was so impressed with Bryan, that he asked him to speak at the school’s commencement exercises in May. Although McIver truly admired Bryan, he also believed that this “advertising scheme” would result in increasing student interest in his new college. His plan was successful, as the following semester State Normal received hundreds more applications than the previous year.



For the 1894 commencement ceremony, Bryan would share the stage with John B. Gordon, a Confederate General who had seen action at Antietam and Gettysburg and had led the last charge at Appomattox. Greensboro was thrilled at the news that the “silver-tongued orator” was coming to their town, and bedecked homes, storefronts, and streetcars in the school colors of yellow and white. The College’s flower, the daisy, was also used liberally for decoration.

Bryan spoke to an over-capacity crowd in the auditorium of the campus’ Administration Building (now the Foust Building). The stage was decorated with the Seal of North Carolina, and on either side of it, the seals of Nebraska and Georgia, honoring the speakers’ home states. Bryan’s political celebrity, charismatic personality, and reputation for dramatic speeches drew a record audience. The young women who attended the College were particularly thrilled with his appearance, as they thought that there was a strong resemblance between Bryan and McIver, their college president. Bryan spoke for almost two hours on one of his favorite themes – the reinstatement of silver coinage.

William Jennings Bryan (center) and Charles Duncan McIver (far right), ca. 1896

During the years after the 1894 commencement, McIver and Bryan continued to keep in contact. The men always met when Bryan visited North Carolina, and McIver made a point of being present at his friend’s speaking engagements when possible. In August of 1906, McIver traveled to New York to attend a reception honoring Bryan at Madison Square Garden hosted by the Commercial Travelers Anti-Trust League. It was at this event that McIver suggested that Bryan visit North Carolina in September for a whistle-stop tour of the state in September. Bryan had made whistle-stop campaigning popular during his presidential campaign of 1896, and his previous visit to the state had included over twenty North Carolina towns, where he gave political speeches from the back of a train.

Commercial Travelers Anti-Trust League Badge

On September 17, 1906, McIver caught the early morning train to Raleigh to meet the group who was traveling with Bryan back to Greensboro. The train stopped in Durham for Bryan to make a campaign speech and for the party to have lunch. After lunch, McIver complained of indigestion and acute chest pains, and returned to the train to rest. He died shortly afterwards. Bryan rushed to him when he heard the news and he, like his other companions, was “paralyzed with grief.”



Death Mask of Charles Duncan McIver

From the time that McIver died until the train reached Greensboro, the planned politically-based whistle-stop tour became a funeral procession. As there were many people awaiting Bryan at each scheduled stop, it was decided to continue the tour, but instead of campaign speeches, he spoke of McIver’s legacy to the state and to education.  When the train finally reached Greensboro, Bryan visited Lula Martin McIver to pay his respects and gave a memorial tribute for his friend that evening at the city’s opera house. The eulogy included an admirable portrait of McIver as an advocate of women’s education, and pointed to the college that he founded as his greatest monument. From that day on, Bryan’s name has been linked with McIver’s, and with the history of the College.

“Ready for Teddy:” Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 Campus Visit

While campaigning for the 1912 presidential election, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on a 22-town whistle-stop tour of North Carolina, arriving in Greensboro on April 22nd. Roosevelt’s exuberant and charismatic personality made him a natural campaigner, and he toured the country widely.

The Greensboro stop came only two months after he decided to "throw his hat into the ring" for the 1912 election. Roosevelt served as the 26th President of the United States, from 1901 to 1909, but opted not to run for another term. Instead, he groomed his close friend William Howard Taft to follow him in 1908. Yet after Taft won the presidency, Roosevelt became increasing frustrated by his conservative policies. He decided to challenge the incumbent for the Republican nomination during the 1912 presidential election cycle. Loosing the nomination to Taft, Roosevelt ultimately ran on the Progressive, or “Bull Moose,” Party ticket. His third-party candidacy split the Republican Party, allowing the Democrats to win both the presidency and Congress.

Theodore Roosevelt in Front of the Students' Building with State Normal President Julius Foust

But on this rainy April morning, Roosevelt was still a hopeful presidential candidate. Although his train was not scheduled to reach Greensboro until 2 o’clock, a crowd had begun to gather. As if on cue, when the train arrived at the station the rain stopped and by the time he began to speak, the sun was out. Addressing an audience of over 5,000 men and women, Roosevelt made a brief speech before traveling by car to the State Normal and Industrial College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). In anticipation of his visit, 700 students donned their best white dresses and waited patiently in the auditorium of the Students’ Building. On his arrival, “Colonel Roosevelt” was introduced by his campaign manager, John Dixon. Perhaps a bit overwhelmed by his female audience, Roosevelt immediately stated, “I always had very great difficulty in speaking to young ladies.”

Theodore Roosevelt on a Later Whistle-Stop Tour to Greensboro, 1912*

Not surprisingly, he chose to talk about women’s education. Roosevelt praised the college for not only offering a teaching curriculum, but also business classes. Predicting that education would undergo significant changes during the next fifty years, he stressed the value of practical as well as cultural coursework for both young men and women. Typical of his pragmatic nature, Roosevelt believed that the goal was to be more efficient and “more fit to do the actual work of life.” Yet he also emphasized the importance of scholarship. An ardent naturalist, he specifically used the dogwood tree to make his point. Recounting his trip through North Carolina, he described the mountains as being “aflame with dogwood blossoms.” He counseled the students to appreciate nature and when possible, to put this appreciation “vividly and truthfully on paper, in books, and in magazines.” Before he departed, Roosevelt encouraged the young women to take advantage of their great educational opportunities, reminding them, “To you much has been given, and from you much will be expected.”

Students' Building at the State Normal and Industrial College

Roosevelt's choice to visit the State Normal was an interesting one, since his audience was not comprised of voters. It would not be until the 1920 election, following the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1919, that women could actually cast a ballot for a United States president. But on the afternoon of April 22, 1912, Roosevelt captivated his audience with talk of women’s education, the importance of scholarship, and dogwood blossoms.

*Image courtesy of Greensboro Historical Museum

“Wanted – A College Song”

In November of 1908, it was decided that State Normal and Industrial College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) should have a school song. The small woman’s college opened its doors in 1892, and although class songs, cheers, and poems were popular with the students, the school did not have an official Alma Mater. An alumnae committee was established to select a song and decided to hold a competition, which was publicized in the State Normal Magazine. In an announcement titled, “Wanted – A College Song,” the committee offered a prize of “ten dollars in gold” to the person writing a song that best represented the “spirit of the college.” Words could be adapted to an established song, or an original composition could be submitted, in which cases “musical critics” would be called in as judges.

Laura Weill

Although there was no immediate response to the competition, Wilmington native, Laura Weill (Class of 1910), did submit a song shortly before her graduation.  Incorporating a tune by W. A. White that she discovered in an anthology of college songs, Weill penned “The College Song,” with a focus on loyalty and the school’s devotion to service. Service had always been an important part of State Normal’s mission, but it was the motto of the Class of 1910 and they “willed it” to the college during graduation. It was during the May 1910 Commencement ceremony that the song was first performed, and was thereafter incorporated into the college handbook and other campus publications, including “Twenty-Five Songs for Community Singing,” which included patriotic songs such as “The Star Spangled Banner” and “The Old North State,” as well as folk tunes like “Barbara Allen” and “My Old Kentucky Home.” Belle Kornegay (Class of 1918) later arranged the composition for sheet music.

"The College Song" Score

After the college became co-educational in 1963, there was discussion that the song should be replaced with a more relevant choice. The argument came up again in the early 1980s. Ultimately, it was decided that Weill’s song would be kept, although the words would be adapted to include, “your sons and daughters” and “university,” reflecting the more diverse student body. The renamed “The University Song,” is still played at Commencement and other university events.

The words, written by Laura Weill, are as follows:

We raise our voices; let them swell
In a chorus loud and strong;
The rolling hills send back the sound
Of our triumphant song.
For in one great unbroken band
With loyal hearts and true,
Your daughters stand, and hand in hand
Sing college dear to you.

Our college days run swiftly by
And all too soon we part;
But in the years that are to come
Deep graven on each heart
Our motto, “Service,” will remain,
And service we will do,
And as we serve, our hears will turn,
O college dear, to you.

Dear Alma Mater, strong and great,
We never shall forget
The gratitude we owe to you—
A never-ending debt.
All honor to your name we give,
And love we pledge anew,
Unfailing loyalty we bring,
O college dear, to you.

The University Marshals

Each spring, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) inducts a select group of students into the University Marshals, a campus service organization recognizing the academic excellence and the exemplary service record of 100 rising Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors. Required to have completed thirty semester hours and have least a 3.65 GPA, the Marshals serve as ambassadors at graduation ceremonies and other important campus events.

1895 - 1896 Marshals

Established in 1893, only a year after the opening of the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG), the Marshals were originally chosen by the college’s literary societies. These societies were primarily social organizations, open to the student body, which also held debates and dramatic presentations. An important part of campus life, the State Normal had two literary societies in these early years; the Adelphian and the Cornelian. State Normal’s first president, Charles Duncan McIver, decided that the Marshals would be selected from only the Junior class, and would be students who had shown academic excellence and good conduct. He requested that each society elect five members who best represented the college, with the Chief Marshal being chosen by one society, alternating between the two groups each year.

1923 Marshal

In 1910, a Student Council was created as an advisory group to the college administration. Nominated by the literary societies, the Council was comprised of three students from each class, except the senior class, which had four, including the Chief Marshal who was president of the Council. This group provided a means of communication between the college administration and the student body and was charged with improving college life. When the Dikean and Aletheian societies were added during the next several decades, elected members were divided between the four groups. In the late 1930s, it was decided that each society would elect five senior Marshals and three junior marshals to meet the needs of the increasing numbers at college functions.

From the organization's beginnings, the members had a certain required dress. White dresses and long sashes were worn by the girls with white regalia and their class numbers or a background of their class colors, appearing by the 1920s. The satin class numerals, in the students’ class colors, contained special notes from her friends and family. The late 1930s classes determined that the regalia would be created and funded by each society, which would rent them to the Marshals.

Student Marshal, 1950-1951 Wearing Sash and Numerals

The group underwent significant changes when the literary societies disbanded in 1953, and the selection process turned to a popular vote. The Chief Marshal was elected by the student body based on “scholarship, charm, and service,” and her thirty-two additional “assistants” were chosen from the incoming junior and senior classes. After the college became co-educational in 1963, male students were eligible to join the Marshals. The organization selected Juniors to serve a two-year term and the Chief Marshal was elected from the Senior class. By the 1980s, the group had become the “University Marshals,” who were chosen from among the Junior and Senior class for their academic excellence. The University Marshals are currently overseen by the Division of Student Affairs and remain one of the most prestigious groups on campus. They continue to serve as ambassadors for the university and role models for the student body.

100 Years Ago: Campus Life in 1915

On Saturday, September 18, 1915, the 702 students enrolled at the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) gathered in the auditorium of the Students' Building to kick off the new academic year with "College Night." Representatives from the Senior Class as well as the Young Women's Christian Organization (YWCA) spoke, and, according to State Normal Magazine, "the various college organizations gave 'stunts' which showed the new girls in every unique and mirth-provoking manner something of the different phases of college life."

Students' Building in 1915. The building was razed in 1950,
but the cornerstone remains visible on College Avenue, in front of the EUC.

Only a few weeks later, the College celebrated Founder's Day with wreaths of flowers and tributes from the College and the Senior Class taken to the grave of founding president Charles Duncan McIver by four faculty members remaining from the opening of the school just 23 years before. Flowers were also placed at the grave of the school's first Lady Principal, Sue May Kirkland, who had died the previous year.

And only two days after Founder's Day, the campus received a high-profile guest when William Jennings Bryan, a politician and a close friend of McIver's, made a short stop at State Normal. He briefly spoke with the students in the dining hall during their dinner time, discussing his shared grief at the loss of McIver nine years prior. As State Normal Magazine noted, he also "made a few remarks, embodying the ideals of Dr. McIver - and of every great man - leaving with us the stimulating thought that life holds for us, with interest, just what we put into it."

The excitement over the initial weeks of school in 1915 continued throughout the academic year as students participated in debates, dramatic presentations, and other events as part of the campus literary societies. As the course bulletin from the 1915-1916 academic year noted, "students should breathe an atmosphere that will promote growth." The campus administrators and students promoted growth by bringing in numerous speakers and performers covering a wide range of subject matter.

Members of State Normal's YWCA at an annual retreat
in Western North Carolina

Women's suffrage was a major point of debate and advocacy for the State Normal students on campus one hundred years ago. In Spring 1915, 250 students participated in a march during their regular afternoon “walking period.” This march, led by members of the orchestra and girls with makeshift instruments, paraded down College Avenue with “Votes for Women” banners flying high. The protest ended at Spencer Dormitory where the girls listened to speeches on women’s rights given by their fellow students. At the 1915 commencement ceremony in June, students refused to applaud the speaker, Governor Locke Craig, because he spoke against women’s suffrage. It was only after Governor Craig conceded that he would support women’s right to vote if that is what they desired, that he received a positive response from his audience. Another speaker that year suggested that women leave the vote to men. As a result, the students created an effigy of the unfortunate legislator and burned it in Peabody Park. Also, a suffrage group, thought to be the first of its kind in the South, was formed on campus.

Sophomore class giving a performance on
the Athletic Fields (where Petty Building sits today)

Interestingly, in the November 1915 State Normal Magazine, we also see a refrain still echoing on campus today. In a piece titled "College Spirit," Louise Winston Goodwin wrote, "What is it that makes an inter-university foot ball game so interesting? College spirit! Of course, we don't have the opportunity to fight on inter-collegiate gridirons. But we do have athletics, and athletics should be a very potent factor in our campus life. Even if you don't 'go into training' on your team, you can throw yourself into your team practice - always be there, always play your hardest. If you don't play, you belong on the side lines, giving your interest, your enthusiasm to liven up the game." That sense of spirit was on display in the annual campus basketball tournament, held in November, with the championship game played on Thanksgiving afternoon. For the first time ever, the Freshman class took the championship, with a member of the Senior class noting in State Normal Magazine that "those Freshmen weren't as green as they thought or we thought they were."

Farming for Uncle Sam

On April 6, 1917, the United Stated officially entered World War I. With the institutional motto of “Service,” the women of the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) sought ways to contribute to the war efforts. Students came together to observe meatless and wheatless days, take classes in food conservation, raise money for the War Relief Fund, and make surgical dressings.

During the summer of 1918, ten Normal women heeded President Woodrow Wilson’s call to increase American food production and reduce food waste by volunteering to work on a 300-acre farm just outside of Greensboro. Most of these Farmerettes had no experience with farm work. In fact, most were not from rural areas at all. But, according to one student – Marjorie Craig (class of 1919) – these women “volunteered for that phase of war work because there was so little else we could do to help win the war … We were told that all the food produced at home made possible a greater supply for the soldiers.”

The Farmerettes knew that their presence in the fields might not be welcomed. As Craig noted, “we had been warned beforehand that we would be laughed at and we had prepared to ignore it.” In khaki uniforms and straw hats, these Farmerettes performed all but the heaviest agricultural labor – hoeing corn, pitching hay, threshing wheat, harvesting vegetables, feeding pigs, milking cows, and performing numerous other farm tasks. Work days began at 8 a.m. and continued until 5 p.m., with a one-hour break for lunch.

Campus administrators lent a hand, with J.M. Sink, superintendent of buildings and grounds, supervising their work. Even President Julius Foust stepped in to drive the reaper to cut the wheat.

Ten years after this summer, Margaret Hayes (class of 1919) recounted her time on the farm: "Being a Farmerette I count as one of the most worthwhile experiences of my life. We were engaged in something that we felt was real and vital, not just puttering, as we suspected was the case with some of the war work."

There were tangible results: hundreds of cans of vegetables, as well as products that could not be canned. In total that summer, these students worked to produce 1100 bushels of wheat, 3000 bushels of corn, 2500 gallons of tomatoes, and 2000 gallons of beans. Most of these foodstuffs were used in the campus pantry the following semester. But perhaps more important than the resulting products, the ten Farmerettes united to fight misconceptions about women’s work abilities and contribute to the war effort in their own unique way.

The Carpenterettes and the YWCA Hut

"The Carpenterettes," 1918

During World War I, the students of the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) took part in numerous aspects of campus work -- including many of the jobs vacated by local men. In the summer of 1918, seven students calling themselves the “Carpenterettes,” banded together and built a YWCA hut. The “hut movement” was spearheaded by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and quickly became popular in America. Several huts were constructed in Greensboro for community use. These inexpensive and durable buildings were based on the simple army huts constructed for the war.

The Exterior of the YWCA Hut

The YWCA hut was built on the State Normal campus at the north end of College Avenue. It became a popular all-purpose recreational building at the college for the next thirty years. Greensboro contractor, John T. Hunt, supervised the project free of charge, and the students cleared the land, laid the bricks, and helped frame the structure.

The Interior of the YWCA Hut

The hut’s design included a kitchen, a small library, and a large meeting room measuring 40 by 80 feet with four fireplaces. The furniture for the hut was purchased with local donations. State Normal students even solicited and received a phonograph from Thomas Edison. After the war, the Carpenterettes disbanded. The YWCA hut was razed in the 1940s when North Drive was built.   

Early May Day Parades

For the first fifty years, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) celebrated May Day.  May Day revels were based on ideas of Renaissance England, where the first day of May signified the end of winter. Traditional May Day fetes were filled with activities such as decorating a May Pole, crowning a queen, and playing games. The campus festivals of the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) were similar, especially in the early years when elaborate May Day events were held every four years.

May Day Court of 1916

The school’s May Day fetes of 1912 and 1916 were more extravagant than their successors. Tickets were sold, and there were announcements and advertisements in newspapers across the state. The entire campus was decorated, from the athletic field (now Petty Science Building) to Peabody Park. Special programs were created, detailing the five continuous hours of entertainment as well as the parade route. Students performed shows such as “Hue and Cry after Cupid,” “Robin Hood,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in different parts of campus.

“Hue and Cry after Cupid” Float, 1912

The beginning procession introduced onlookers to the festivals and kicked off the largest May Day celebrations of 1912 and 1916. It featured decorated floats and included most of the costumed participants. The parade route started in downtown Greensboro and continued down College Avenue to the athletic field. In the 1916 festival, the parade traveled from the north end of College Avenue and continued south, moving past the Students’ Building, the Main Building (now Foust Building), and the McIver Memorial Building. Heralds began the parade, appearing before the actors and dancers. Shepherds and shepherdesses, milkmaids, and other costumed students walked beside the floats, which were ornately decorated and exemplified the Renaissance theme. The May Queen, elected by fellow students and the “mascot” of the event, arrived on her own float with her king by her side.  Players from the different tableaux rode and walked in the procession, and the May Queen had her own float. Spectators from all over the state stood along College Avenue to watch the decorative floats and costumed performers.

Chimney Sweeps, 1912

Processions also occurred at May Day fetes in the following years, though never as large as those of 1912 and 1916. There were parades in the 1920s and 1930s, but they had shorter routes through campus and less extravagant floats. Perhaps, World War I contributed to the fact that the later festivals were not as elaborate.  Eventually, the parades came to an end; perhaps because the celebrations were smaller or were too expensive to continue.

This blog was created by Jennifer Brooks, volunteer at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, April, 2015.

Physician, Professor, and Medical Missionary Annie V. Scott (class of 1914)

March is Women's History Month. To celebrate, our Spartan Stories this month feature alumni from the Woman's College, North Carolina College for Women, or State Normal eras. 
 
Greensboro native Annie Vellna Scott arrived at State Normal and Industrial College in Fall 1910 at the age of 21. She was an active student at the State Normal and Industrial College as well as an early entrepreneur. She served on the board of directors of State Normal Magazine as a representative from the Adelphian Literary Society. She also held a leadership position with the campus YWCA group and was a member of the Student Volunteer Board. And, in a display of her ingenuity, she paid her expenses at the State Normal and Industrial College by selling subscriptions to Current Opinion magazine.

Annie V. Scott, 1914 Pine Needles yearbook

In addition to her service and work on campus, Scott was known for her keen intellect and interest in current events. Her entry in the 1914 Pine Needles yearbook described her as“a ready authority upon scientific investigation and present day topics, for she is a thorough student of all the sciences our curriculum affords.”

After graduating with a bachelor of science degree from State Normal in 1914, she attended the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (now part of Drexel University College of Medicine). She received her medical degree in 1918 and was one of only two women to receive licenses that year from the North Carolina Board of Medical Examiners.

Scott served for two years as an intern at Lying-in Hospital and at Bellevue Hospital before she sailed for China in 1920. She worked mostly in North China, principally at Shantung Christian University's Cheeloo Hospital as a professor and chief of pediatrics. Her work included everything from teaching medical school students to operating a private clinic to serving as school physician for three primary schools. She also published a book on pediatric medicine in China as well as numerous journal articles. 

Her service in China was not continuous, however. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, going to war against the United States, Dr. Scott and other Americans in the area were repatriated. She was an instructor in pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Medical School until 1946, when she returned to China. Dr. Scott left China for the last time in 1951, when Chinese Communists forces intervened against the United States in Korea. For four years, she returned to Columbia University, serving as a visiting professor of pediatrics.

In 1954, she became clinical professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina. In this role, her research primarily focused on the detection and prevention of tuberculosis in children. She retired in 1964, and moved to High Point.

Scott receiving her honorary doctorate from UNCG in 1967

Scott received numerous awards for her medical work and service. In 1959, she earned the Alumnae Achievement Award from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. The North Carolina Public Health Association awarded her a merit citation in 1965 for "her long years of dedicated and unselfish service as pediatrician, clinician, teacher, educator and her many achievements with broad public health application" In 1967 at its annual Founders Day ceremony, UNCG presented Scott with an honorary doctor of science degree. Her "outstanding Christian medical service" in China earned her a special citation from the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, USA.

On February 1, 1975, Scott passed away and was buried at Alamance Presbyterian Church cemetery in Greensboro. Her tombstone includes a special inscription: "served 30 years in China in medical missions."

100 Years Ago: Campus Life in 1914

On Monday, September 21, 1914, classes began for the 582 women enrolled as students at the State Normal and Industrial College. All but 18 were residents of North Carolina, and they represented every county in the state. As the Course Bulletin from that year noted, "every county has its proportionate number of appointments, and the advances of the Institution are, to the extent of its capacity, open on similar terms to all."

The college offered give general courses of study for the students, leading to Bachelor of Pedagogy (for those intending to teach), Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Home Economics, and Bachelor of Music degrees. Twenty academic departments employed 69 faculty members to teach classes ranging from Principles of Teaching and Classroom Management to Household Decoration and Furnishing to Theory of Gymnastics.

Class of 1914 basketball team

State Normal offered no scholarships for undergraduate students, but provided free tuition to those "who signify their intentions to teach upon such conditions as may be prescribed by the Board of Directors." Each student applying for free tuition was required to sign a formal agreement affirming their desire to pursue teaching as a post-graduate career and stating that, if she "can secure employment and my health permits," she will teach in either public or private schools in North Carolina for at least two years after completing her studies. For those who did not wish to teach after leaving State Normal, tuition fees were $45 per academic year ($65 for non-residents of North Carolina).

Additional fees, including board in the dormitories ($104), laundry service ($18), fuel and lights ($10) and a library fee ($2), brought the total of basic expenses for a year of school at State Normal to $195 (including tuition). Further fees were assessed for students taking courses with a laboratory component and certain business classes. A $5 annual charge also covered the expenses related to textbooks (the College provided the students with the books they needed for each class).

Scene from "Anita's Trial" by the Adelphian Literary Society, 1914

Students were able to join a number of different organizations, but perhaps the most influential groups in terms of campus life were the literary societies. In 1914, there were two literary societies on campus - the Adelphians and the Cornelians. These groups organized plays, lectures, debates, socials, and other activities for members and campus at large. Students were not required but were strongly encouraged to join one of these two societies. As noted in the Course Bulletin, "after observing for several years the general progress of those students who are members of these Societies, and those who are not, the authorities of the College do not hesitate to say that is a great mistake for a student not to become a member."

Gladys Avery, 1st SGA president

The two literary societies also worked together to publish the bimonthly State Normal Magazine, which included "timely articles on current educational questions, with material relating to the past history of the State form[ing] a considerable portion of its contents." State Normal Magazine was led by a Board of Editors elected from the Adelphian and Cornelian literary societies. Additionally, guidance was provided by a member of the faculty who was appointed Advisory Editor.

1914 also saw the organization of the Student Government Association, with its legislative and executive divisions (although the official Board of Directors resolutions approving the creation of the Student Government Association was not approved until 1915). Gladys Avery was elected as State Normal's first ever Student Government Association president.

Votes for Women! Suffrage on the State Normal and Industrial College Campus

Harriet Elliott

The suffrage movement on the campus of the State Normal and Industrial College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) had its start in the early years of the college’s history. It reflected the larger interest in the vote for women, which was spreading throughout the state. The North Carolina Woman’s Suffrage Association was founded in 1894, only two years after the school first opened its doors. Initially, the State Normal students were against the prospect of the vote for women. In 1909, the Adelphian Literary Society held a debate on the merits of suffrage, after which the students agreed that the side speaking against the vote had won the day. 

Interestingly, the first “recorded” pro-suffrage statement on campus was found in a 1914 State Normal Magazine editorial. In the article, the student author mentions that reading about current events in newspapers would be a necessity when women finally got the vote. This editorial would have been very relevant to the girls of the State Normal as their young political science professor, Harriet Elliott, required them to read the newspaper every day in lieu of a textbook. Many alumnae credited Elliott with helping them gain a fundamental understanding of the suffrage movement and its relationship to the political and economic climate of the day.

The first true suffrage event on campus took place in 1915 when 250 students participated in a march during their regular afternoon “walking period.” This march, led by members of the orchestra and girls with makeshift instruments, paraded down College Avenue with “Votes for Women” banners flying high. The protest ended at Spencer Dormitory where the girls listened to speeches on women’s rights given by their fellow students.

The growing interest in suffrage on campus continued with a rather surprising incident that took place during the 1915 commencement exercises. The girls refused to applaud the speaker, Governor Locke Craig, because he spoke against women’s suffrage. It was only after Governor Craig conceded that he would support women’s right to vote if that is what they desired, that he received a positive response from his audience. The students were not always so passive in the way they showed their displeasure toward legislators who spoke against suffrage at the college. An alumna from the class of 1915 recalled that after one particularly offensive speech during which the speaker suggested that women leave the vote to men, the students created an effigy of the unfortunate legislator and burned it in Peabody Park. The same year, the students formed a suffrage group on campus, which is thought to have been the first of its kind in the South.
 
In 1918, 575 of the 650 students on campus signed a petition to be sent to their senators advocating women’s suffrage. This petition received a great deal of publicity resulting in one state paper commenting, “The action of these young women have had much to do with bringing the North Carolina State Normal College into prominence as representatively progressive and reflecting Twentieth century ideals and revised standards.” Several months later, Julius Foust, president of the State Normal, wrote to Senator Lee Overman supporting the movement, reflecting the sentiment of most of the faculty.



Anna Howard Shaw

During these politically active years, the State Normal was fortunate to have many strong suffrage advocates speak to the student body such as Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to serve in the United States Congress and Dr. Anna Shaw, president of the National American Suffrage Association and personal friend of Harriet Elliott. Shaw spoke at the school on three occasions between 1917 - 1919. She felt that the spirit of the Normal students was “inspiring and unique.” Her connection to the State Normal was such that she would ultimately leave the college scholarship funds in her will. The college would reciprocate by naming a dormitory in Shaw’s honor.




Students Rally for Women's Rights, 1919
North Carolina College for Women

When it became apparent that achieving the right to vote was imminent, Harriet Elliott expanded her efforts to inform the women of North Carolina of their rights. In June of 1920, she offered “A School of Citizenship for Women” which was open not only to her students, but to “all the women of North Carolina.” The program included lectures and round table discussions regarding the government’s structure and purpose. On August 18, 1920, the requisite number of states passed legislation ratifying the 19th Amendment, officially granting women the right to vote. Just months before, the State Normal and Industrial College had become the North Carolina College for Women. When the vote came - the students were prepared!