"White supremacy in North Carolina rests in woman's hands": Dr. Delia Dixon-Carroll and the Power of White Women Voters

Abstract:

Following ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, Dr. Delia Dixon-Carroll (1872–1934) delivered dozens of speeches across North Carolina ahead of the general election in fall 1920, appealing to white women to register and vote for Democratic candidates. A suffragist, clubwoman, and Raleigh's first woman physician, she embodied the new woman of the early twentieth century while also extolling the traditions represented by the Democratic party, notably the white supremacy campaign of 1898 and Charles Aycock's administration. Stumping alongside the state's most powerful Democrats, she assured those who had opposed suffrage that white women would use their newfound political power to preserve the status quo, telling crowds that "when it comes to a question of white supremacy, the women of North Carolina will be there." A stalwart partisan and spokesperson who was recognized by her contemporaries as a party leader, Dixon-Carroll campaigned for Democrats for the rest of her life.