The Women’s History Exhibit

Two years in the making, our Women of Wake Forest exhibit will open on March 23, 2013… giving us a chance to learn from the stories of local women of the past who made lasting contributions in civic leadership, business, philanthropy, education and the arts.

A partial list of those receiving this special recognition in our first class of inductees includes:

•Very popular with town residents and college students, Lib Greason served as assistant postmistress while raising a family and helping her famous husband, regional sports icon Murray Greason, WFC basketball coach from 1933-57. Among those who led the social scene in Wake Forest, Lib moved with the college to Winston-Salem where she worked as executive assistant to the dean and assistant deans of the college.

•Daughter of prominent African American educator Allen Young, Ailey Mae Young was born in Wake Forest and became a noted teacher and community leader. She also made a lasting mark in politics, paving the way for equal representation of women and minorities by becoming only the second woman and first African American to serve on the Wake Forest Town Commission.

•As longtime editor of the Wake Weekly, journalist Peggy Allen spent more than half a century covering the town’s news. Along with her husband, Bob Allen, Peggy was inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame in 2006.

The full exhibit will extend the length of the north wall of the Nancy Cullom Harris Auditorium, where photographs, documents and artifacts will bring to life the personalities and achievements of each individual honored. New members will be inducted biennially, and we encourage museum visitors to review nomination guidelines and submit the names of women who’ve made local history.

As part of the official unveiling, and in keeping with our funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, the museum will hold a public forum to screen the new film, Remembering Wake Forest: Women of the East and Mill Village. Following the film, southern history scholar Emily Herring Wilson (WFU ’62) will lead a group discussion with panelists Joyce Davis, Evelyn Jones and Geraldine Hall-Taylor, all of whom appear in the film and were interviewed for the project.

The event… from 10am to noon on Saturday, March 23, 2013… is free and open to the public. It will also include distribution of an original brochure featuring archival images and information pertaining to the exhibit.