On March 27-28, 1925, there
assembled in Williamsburg, Virginia, a group of Virginia women, called
together as delegates from the already existing local branches of the
American Association of University Women, with the intent to form a
Virginia State Division of the organization. It was a notable
gathering of women--mainly educators--among them several who had
already associated themselves with the national organization and who
were, with some of the others present, destined to play leading roles
in the national and regional organizations and the Virginia State
Division. At the morning session on the 28th the motion was
made and passed to form a state organization.
When the meeting
adjourned that afternoon, the Virginia Division of AAUW was a
reality. Already there appear in the minutes of that meeting
some of the same interests which have occupied and still occupy the
minds of the members of the local branches and of the state
today. There are apparent an interest in working in the state
for bringing about legislation for an increase in funds for the state
supported schools and an interest in the pre-school age for which AAUW
even then had a tentative program formed. There were in the
state at that time seven local branches, including Richmond, founded
in
1909, the Norfolk
Branch which was founded in 1918, the Lynchburg Branch
in
1920, the one at Sweet Briar in 1921, and Charlottesville, Roanoke,
and Williamsburg in 1923. By the following year the number of
branches had increased to 10, with the addition of branches in Newport News, Staunton, and
Petersburg.
According to the minutes
of the 1927 convention held in Lynchburg, there was considerable
discussion which stressed the inadequacy of the current dues which
barely covered the cost of stationery, postage, and the necessary
mimeographed work. The state treasury had a balance of
$35.00. By this time there were 11 branches with the addition
of Blacksburg.
Staunton withdrew the following year. From this time on the Division
grew rapidly. In 1929 Harrisonburg formed a branch, Winchester in
1931, Bedford
in 1932, Staunton reorganized in 1933, and Fredericksburg
in 1938.
The Virginia
Division in the 30's decade worked not only for the
betterment of the curricula in the schools but also tried to improve
various situations for those who taught in them, with its eye as always
turned favorably on women. It promoted the idea of teacher
training and took a stand for not increasing, and reducing if possible,
the number of education courses required by the State Department of
Education for teacher certification; it held out for the equalization
of salaries for men and women doing the same work, and for removing the
discriminatory ruling against married women teaching in the public
schools.
There can be no question
but that one of the most important aids in drawing together the members
of the State Division has been the State Bulletin. Though the
use to which it is put in the branches has from time to time been
questioned as sufficient justification for it, it, without a doubt,
tends to make for state solidarity, by being a mouthpiece for the state
presidents and by keeping the membership informed as to the activities
of the different branches. The cost of publishing and
distributing it has from the first been a problem. In 1931 it
cost about 10 cents a copy and was sent to 30 members, state officers
and some of the branch officers. By the following year, it
was sent to every member in the state.
The Virginia State
Division felt the effects of World War II in numerous ways, though in
general its work went on very smoothly. In the first place,
the state meeting in 1945 was abandoned on account of the request of
the Federal Government that travel be curtailed as much as
possible. Elections were carried on by mail, and the
bulletins for the period, containing the state president's annual
report and the usual news of the branches, gave a pretty clear idea of
what was going on.
The 40's saw the addition
of branches in
Portsmouth in 1940, Danville in 1941, Arlington County
in
1944, Alexandria
in 1945, Culpeper in 1946, and
Hampton in 1949.
The Virginia Division has been one of the most active on the Atlantic
coast in the field of legislation, both in the federal and state
fields. The Board from the beginning urged branches to study
local and state issues and to keep abreast of current legislation in
all fields. The branches have been very active in support of
measures concerned with education and social welfare. The
state organization was very active in promoting jury duty for women.
In 1954 the Arlington Branch proposed a resolution in favor of
maintenance of good public schools, adopted by the South Atlantic
Regional Conference and the Virginia Division Convention.
After some schools were closed following federal court orders in
conflict with massive resistance, AAUW branches in Virginia established
tutoring groups as temporary substitutes for the closed schools.
The
50's decade saw the establishment of eight other branches: Falls Church
in
1950, Waynesboro
in 1951, Radford in 1952,
Springfield in 1955,
Norton and
Mt. Vernon in 1956, the Princess Anne Branch at Virginia Beach in
1958, and Suffolk
in 1959.
The
Division began the
1960's aware of a deeply felt concern, sustained and strengthened
during the latter half of the 50's by the firm and courageous stand for
the preservation of a statewide system of free public
schools. Major accomplishments included positive and fruitful
action on behalf of public education for all pupils (e.g. for
compulsory school attendance and against tuition grants for private
schools). The Division consistently opposed tuition grants to
pupils in private, nonsectarian schools, regarding them as so-called
"escape valves". An ardent supporter of public education, the
Division continued to speak out against these funds being siphoned off
from already inadequate public school financing. These
tuition grants were eliminated only in 1969 when they were declared
unconstitutional by a three-judge Federal court.
Foundation giving doubled
during this decade and often surpassed the national per capita
average. In 1963 Charlottesville was first in the nation and
in 1969 Virginia Beach was second with a per capita contribution of
$27.02.
New Virginia branches in
this decade were
Reston-Herdon
and McLean Area,
both
in 1969.
The Division long
supported measures to protect and improve the legal status of women, to
improve welfare services and facilities, and to protect
consumers. The Division joined with 34 other organizations in
the state to press for the creation of a Virginia Commission on the
Status of Women, which was affirmed by a General Assembly bill passed
in 1970. Division dues reached $2 per member, membership
reached 3,100 and the Division annual budget was $3,300.
From adoption in 1971 of
the first Virginia Division resolution in support of ratification of
the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution Virginia members worked with intensity and devotion to
accomplish the impossible: a vote for ERA in the General Assembly of
Virginia. The amendment read simply, Equality of rights under
the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any
state on account of sex.
Highlights
of the efforts
included organization of and leadership in the coalition of 44 state
organizations for ratification of ERA and, in its final years, moving
the state convention in protest outside Virginia to Washington, DC, in
1981 and to Maryland, a ratified state, in 1982. The decade and a half
was also marked with participation in the UN International
Woman's Decade and completion of the Association Centennial
Fund that expanded our Fellowships Fund into the Educational Foundation
with additional funding for education and services through research,
grants and projects, many for branches and members.
Branches increased giving
to Fellowships Fund/EFP from $12,095 in 1971 to nearly $30,000 in
1985. During the decade, membership peaked at 3,641 and the
number of branches to 43. The 1970's brought new branches in Wytheville in
1971, Woodbridge
in 1972, Fairfax
City
in 1973, Manassas
in 1975, Bon Air
in 1976, and Vienna
in 1979. Unfortunately, all four branches founded in the
1980's have since disbanded.
As
interest in the
ERA waned, due to its failure to gain ratification, gender equity had
become a concern for AAUW. Most of us have lived through the
male-only era for Virginia Military Institute, where the issue was one
of using public funds for public education which benefited men
only. The Virginia Division signed on as an amicus curii to
the brief that was filed with the Supreme Court by AAUW and other
organizations to open VMI enrollment to women. The Supreme
Court's ruling in favor of admitting women students was a giant step
forward for equal opportunity for women.
During the 1980's, the
state superintendent of schools joined other dignitaries in presenting
a statewide workshop hosted by the Virginia Division in Richmond on
Public Support for Public Education, a major theme for Virginia
AAUW for its entire 75 years. Throughout our long
history, providing strong public schools for Virginia's children and
youth has been our number one priority.
We continue to oppose
school vouchers which would use public education funds for private
schools. Those statements just read from the 1960's are as
appropriate today as they were forty years ago. Resolutions
to provide school vouchers emerge each year in the General Assembly and
require the diligent efforts of the state lobby corps to prevent their
passage. The AAUW of Virginia lobby corps has
earned recognition and respect throughout the General
Assembly and members are known for their persistence in working for
legislation that benefits women and public education.
Research done by the Educational Foundation in the
90's decade, How Schools Shortchange Girls, Hostile Hallways, Gender
Gaps, prompted AAUW of Virginia members and branches to speak at school
board meetings, to write news articles, to host math-science events
and Sister-to-Sister
Girls Summits, and to advocate at every opportunity to create
a level playing field for girls.
Branches added in the last
decade are Great Falls in 1990; Chesterfield in 1992;
AAUW's first online branch, Northern Virginia Online
Branch in 1995; and our newest branch, Smith Mountain,
formed in the year 2000, giving us 38 branches across the Commonwealth.
The Diamond Donor Project
provides the means to fund research to benefit women in their quest to
continue learning throughout their lives, to extend our diamond
anniversary commemoration well beyond the 75th year, to honor
those leaders who have brought us to this momentous occasion, and to
acknowledge our deep affection and pride in being members of the
American Association of University Women of Virginia.
Download a PDF copy of the History Here
To
be added soon:
The
Presidencies of
Theresa Merkel
2002-2004
Nancy Joyner
2004-2006
Rosemary Plum and Laura Wimmer
2006-2008
