New Special Collections Exhibit: One Woman’s Fight for Women’s Suffrage

The Special Collections Division is happy to bring you a new exhibit featuring the story of Cornelia Petty Jerman. With Women’s History Month approaching in March, we are celebrating Jerman’s role in the fight for women’s suffrage. The exhibit is located in Joyner Library on the first floor, and can be viewed from the beginning January to the end of April. This exhibit was curated by Graduate Student, Ashlyn Racine.

Cornelia Petty Jerman was born in Carthage, North Carolina on December 1st, 1874. She graduated from Oxford College in 1892, studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Women’s College in Greensboro in June, 1943. Jerman led the fight for women’s suffrage. She was a charter member the Women’s Club of Raleigh and served as president from 1909 to 1911. In 1920, Jerman fought for women’s right to vote during the North Carolina General Assemble for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which was reviewed and rejected. Jerman continued to fight after the rejection. She organized the Raleigh League of Women’s Voters and served as president from 1921-1923. She also served as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1920, 1924, and 1928. Cornelia Petty Jerman gained the reputation of an influential and formidable fighter and earned the respect of men and women.

As a sneak peak of what you’ll find in the exhibit, please see the telegram below, which was sent from Eleanor Roosevelt to Cornelia Petty Jerman. Cornelia lobbied and campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. In 1934 the Roosevelt administration appointed her to the federal post of assistant collection of Internal Revenue for North Carolina where she remained until 1939.

We hope you will stop by the library to check out this timely exhibit!

Telegram from Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt to Cornelia Petty Jerman. Image Credit: East Carolina University Digital Collections. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/67884.

Sources:

Biographical Sketch of Cornelia Petty Jerman, written by Alia Kempton. Included in Part III: Mainstream Suffragists—National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Cornelia Petty Jerman Papers (#155), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.