Number 1 Feminist
Gladys Tillett: lias carried her cru¬
sade from the IWC to the UIST.
By EVA M. YOUNG
Ail pioneering women weren't found
in covered wagons going west, Gladys
Tillett, Mrs, Charles Tillett of Char¬
lotte, has been one of the later pio¬
neers, fighting for women’s rights ever
since her first suffragist parade as a
student at Woman’s College in Greens¬
boro. Later she entered the University
of North Carolina as one of its first
thirty co-eds graduating in 1917.
Coming from a line of educators and
statesmen — - her father being Justice
A. C. Avery of the North Carolina
Supreme Court, she was interested in
“uplifting politics” and a higher level
for the status of w'omen. She was en¬
couraged by her mother to equip her¬
self with a university education and be
a responsible member of society,
Political Prominence
She was the “yeast” in organizing
the League of Women voters in North
Carolina in 1922, founding the first
county League in North Carolina, and
was state president in 1933-34. Her
early aims were to get women to regis¬
ter and vote; sponsor candidates of
both parties to appear at open meet¬
ings; and a change in the aidermanic
form of government to the present
city-manager form.
With a League of Women voters’
background, she went into party poli¬
tics, heading each unit of the organi¬
zation in North Carolina; and from
1940 to 1950 she served as Vice Chair¬
man of the Democratic National
Committee. She directed the na¬
tional campaign for women in the
Roosevelt-Truman campaign of 1944,
and was the keynote speaker for the
women at the 1944 Democratic Na¬
tional Convention in Chicago. In carry¬
ing out her national duties, she visited
all the states in the United States.
Governor Luther Hodges appointed
her as the first woman to serve on the
North Carolina State Election Board.
From the beginning men have given her
cooperation and support.
She served as National Co-chairman
of the Kennedy-.! oh nson campaign.
THE STATE, June 1,
1Э6В
Her speech “Religious Freedom, and
the Ballot Box,” widely used in the
United States, is preserved in the Ken¬
nedy Memorial library. She directed
the Woman's Division of the Senatorial
campaign for Dr. Frank Graham.
U. N. Position
In 1961 she was appointed by Presi¬
dent Kennedy, and later re-appointed
by President Johnson, as a member of
the United States delegation to the
General Assembly of the United Na¬
tions, and as representative on the
United Nations Commission of the
Status of Women. From this broad
base she is still pioneering on the plat¬
form that all persons are entitled to
human rights and equality before the
law,
The United Nations Commission is
composed of thirty-two women, rep¬
resenting thirty-two countries and is
under the Social and Economic Coun¬
cil. It meets once a year at the United
Nations headquarters in New York, for
a session of three weeks, to consider
aspects of the political, economic, so¬
cial, civil and educational status of
women. These aspects through the
Secretary General are researched and
later reported to the United Nations
Assembly,
In connection with her United Na¬
tions duties, she has visited countries
around the world; southeastern Asia,
Guana and Nigeria, fifteen countries
in Latin America, Germany, Japan,
Mongolia, France and others, speaking
to organizations and conferring with
government officials on matters of con¬
cern to women.
Active in Charlotte
Gladys is not only a Democrat, but a
very active Presbyterian being respon¬
sible, with the aid of friends financially
and otherwise, for the erection of a
Negro Presbyterian church in Char¬
lotte with the addition of two day-
nurseries. She has actively participated
in local community affairs; on the
National Y.W.C.A. board; a member
Mrs. Charles Tillett, ot Charlotte
of the National Federation of Women’s
Clubs; the D.A.R.; Conference of Jews
and Christians; Charlotte Country Club
and others.
Marrying a young lawyer,
Charles W. Tillett, soon after gradua¬
tion, she has reared a son, an oph¬
thalmologist, whose wife is also an
ophthalmologist; a daughter, a writer
and teacher, wife of William W.
Thomas who is in the foreign service;
and another daughter, her namesake,
much like her mother and married to
W. I. Coddington, a business execu¬
tive. Site is the beloved grandmother of
ten who call her “Mimi.” When in
Charlotte she lives in a lovely two-
story white colonial house; when in
New' York, at the Roosevelt hotel, ten
blocks from the United States Mission
and United Nations ... "A nice walk”
she says.
Recipient of the LLD from both
UNC at Chapel Hill and Woman’s
College of Greensboro, the Greensboro
News paid her this tribute: “she stands
today as one of North Carolina’s finest
ornaments in the field of public service.
She is a credit to her home, her com¬
munity and her state — as well as the
nation she represents on an important
United Nations Mission.”
In 1962 she predicted: w'e would
hear a great deal from women in de¬
veloping countries ... the President's
new commission on the status of wom¬
en will make an impact in this coun¬
try . . . great progress will be made in
the education of women , . . there will
be more women in the General As-
seembly of the United Nations, and
more women appointed to party and
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