| Ramsey Library | |
 |
|
|
Lilian Exum Clement |
 |
| Exum was born in western North Carolina in
the North Fork community of Black Mountain. Petite, bright and
ambitious, she passed the bar in 1916 and became the first woman in
Asheville to practice law without a male partner. Female suffrage was
important to Exum and to many other women in western North Carolina and
she used the wave of suffrage activism to leverage her Democratic
candidacy for the NC House of Representatives in 1919. She won by the
largest landslide in North Carolina history and entered her state office
before the ratification of the 19th Amendment had taken place.
As a legislator she was called "brother Exum" by her colleagues, not necessarily a title of disdain. Her legislation, though, did not always meet with approval. A speech she gave in Asheville proposing homes for unwed mothers brought a bombardment of eggs and vegetables from the crowd. Undaunted, Exum proposed many other legislative bills and among her accomplishments were bills for forest conservation, tuberculin testing of cow's milk, aid to abandoned wives, and private polling booths. Previous to her tenure in the Assembly, legislative bills for women's rights had been referred to the committee on insane asylums. She gave women's issues validity and dignity in Assembly debate and paved the way for other women legislators and legislative efforts. The sentiments of the Anti-suffragist League that contended, "Politics are bad for women and women are bad for politics" were seldom to be heard after her successful tenure. The views of her supporters, the North Carolina Equal Suffrage League was later to become thee highly respected North Carolina League of Women Voters. While Exum's election to the Genreal Assembly dramatically advanced women's rights in the state, the General Assembly did not ratify the suffrage amendment until 1971!
|
|
|
Sources: Vertical Files, UNCA Special Collections |
|