Lillian Exum Clement Stafford
by Sandi Tomlin-Sutker

" I know that years from now there will be many other women in politics, but you have to start a thing."

Can you imagine what it was like to not have the right to vote? To be at the mercy, really, of men in power whom you had not chosen—and could not get rid of? Lillian Exum Clement lived in such a world.

Yet her energy, tenacity, intelligence and dedication led to her being chosen, by the men of the Democratic party in Buncombe County, as the first woman candidate for the North Carolina legislature—just before women won the right to vote with the 19th amendment in 1920, after only 72 years of agitation and lobbying. She handily won the primary, winning her seat at the age of 26 (10,368 to 41 votes for the male candidate who ran as an Independent)—the Republican opponent withdrew before the election.

Miss Clement (in the vernacular of her day) was the first woman to be elected to a state legislature in the South; she was also one of the first women lawyers (known as L. Exum Clement and even called ‘Brother Exum’ by some of her peers) in North Carolina—the first to have her own practice without male partners, and she was a criminal lawyer to boot! Like so many women today, she was, in many ways, a superwoman: unable to attend university, she studied law at night, tutored by two local attorneys, while she worked days in the sheriff’s office (she began working there at age 14). Still, she passed the bar exam, in 1916, with one of the highest grades at the time. She also helped found the local chapter of the Business and Professional Women’s organization and served as chief clerk of the draft exemption board.

1919 and 1920 were tumultuous times for women in politics. The woman suffrage movement was in full swing and state after state was faced with the decision whether to ratify the 19th amendment. Apparently the floodgates were going to open anyway, and the Democrats of Buncombe County chose to go with the flow rather than oppose it. An editorial in the Asheville Times on October 7, 1920 had an interesting take on the prevailing attitude: “…of course the women are going to vote, whatever their present intentions are…[and] the majority of the majority party will be larger than ever before.” In order to win the new, and potentially very large, female constituency over to the party, the editor advised the Democrats to “point out what conditions prevailed when the Republicans were last entrusted with the state government. It should be no dry lecture, but a pleasing and informing talk—women do not need to have things hammered into their brains—a hint will accomplish much.”

Perhaps the only goal the party elite had in proposing L. Exum Clement as their candidate was to gain the votes of the newly enfranchised women for their party. But what they, and the state of North Carolina, got was a woman who, in her own words was “…by nature, very conservative, but I am firm in my convictions. I want to blaze a trail for other women. I know that years from now there will be many other women in politics, but you have to start a thing.”

And she started many things: her first bill called for private voting booths and a secret ballot. Even her own party deserted her on this, lamenting that “politicians would lose direct contact with their voters under this method.” An Asheville Times editorial pointed out, with some irony, that “a man could not buy votes if he could not see to their delivery.” Opponents crushed the bill initially, but it passed later when she reintroduced it as “the only democratic way"; today we take it for granted that privacy and secrecy are necessary for honest and fair elections.

As a woman, Lillian Exum Clement had interests and concerns that perhaps the men of her day were unaware of, or considered unimportant. One of these concerns resulted in the Pure Milk Bill, calling for tuberculin testing of dairy cows and sanitary dairy barns. A second, and more controversial, was the divorce bill she proposed that reduced from 10 years to 5 years the time a woman had to wait after being abandoned by her husband before she could sue for divorce. (Imagine a 30-year-old woman of that era languishing for 10 years before she could divorce and possibly remarry!) But the most contentious issue Exum Clement proposed concerned her long-held dream that the Lindley Training School, a home for “unwed mothers and delinquent girls”, would become a state-supported institution. At a rally in Asheville regarding this difficult problem, she was shocked when rotten eggs and vegetables were thrown at her and some people accused her of “contributing to the delinquency of girls.” Yet, in her calm, determined way, she brushed off her clothes, quoted the Bible concerning those who cast stones and persisted until she achieved her dream.

In all, she introduced 17 bills in the General Assembly—16 of them became law. And she accomplished all this in only one term; she married her fiancé Elias Eller Stafford and did not run for election for a second term. She did not retire from public life, however, continuing as secretary of the Business and Professional Women’s group and as a director of the State Hospital in Morganton. In 1923 she gave birth, prematurely, to a daughter, Nancy, the first incubator baby in the state. Sadly her health deteriorated, and Lillian Exum Clement Stafford died of pneumonia in 1925.

Her only child, now Stafford Anders, still lives in Asheville. Stafford recently related a story to me that illustrates her mother’s true nature: a woman willing to do much more than talk about her beliefs. From her office window on Pack Square, Lillian noticed a young woman sitting on a bench for a couple of days. Concerned, she went down to ask if she could help and learned that the young woman, employed as a maid for a local family, had been seduced by the son, became pregnant and was kicked out by that family and her own. In Stafford’s words “Mother brought her home; she gave birth to a daughter and after I was born and Mother was still sick, the young woman became my wet nurse.”

You may have noticed the historical marker at the corner of Charlotte and College Streets near City-County Plaza. It was little more than a dry, impersonal piece of history to me before—after talking with Stafford, however, Lillian Exum Clement has come alive for me. She was a pioneer in her strong, unassuming way; she accomplished a lot in her short life, leaving an example for other women to follow. Since 1925 there has always been at least one woman serving in the House or Senate in North Carolina—today there are 35, still a small percentage, but one that continues to grow. In Western North Carolina many dedicated women have followed Lillian’s example: Francis Ramsey, Mary Nesbitt, Marie Colton, and Wilma Sherrill to name a few. This year we have further opportunities to elect strong women candidates: Patsy Keever and Susan Fisher are each profiled in this issue, also see the sidebar regarding Lillian’s List.

Sandi Tomlin-Sutker is publisher and associate editor of WNC Woman. She lives in Madison County with her husband, Sam, dog, Fitzy and cat, Pesto (so named by granddaughter Lily). Her interest in the political process led her to a graduate degree in Political Science from UNC-Chapel Hill.
[ sandi@wnc-woman.com ]

LILLIAN’S LIST is a statewide organization in North Carolina, an independent political committee dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to the North Carolina General Assembly. Lillian’s List is named for Lillian Exum Clement, the first woman elected to the General Assembly in North Carolina and the first woman elected to any state legislature in the South.
In 1998, the List supported its first candidate, Marian McLawhorn to run against Henry Aldridge—after he stated in a committee meeting discussing the need for reproductive choice that “women who are raped cannot get pregnant because the juices don’t flow.”

The Lillian’s List website answers the question, “Who is Lillian?” with the following profiles:

Lillian is every young professional who’s been told to wait her turn and every seasoned one who’s been told she still has to pay her dues.

Lillian is every working mom who’s managed to balance a checkbook, who’s managed a clean house, a corporate budget and a 12-year-old’s basketball tournament in one day.

She is every woman who’s ever had to defend her right to be pro-choice.

She’s every woman who’s ever had to explain her choice not to have a child.

She’s every woman who has ever demanded a raise because she’s been doing the same work as the man in the next cubicle for the same number of years, and she’s still not getting the same pay.

She’s every woman who has ever wondered why the company won’t cover her contraceptives, but will cover that same guy’s Viagra.

Lillian is every working mom who has ever fought for quality day care or family leave time. She is every woman who has given up a single day of vacation to care for a sick child or a sick parent.

She is every African-American woman who has had to work three times as hard to be considered as good as her white male colleague.

She is you. She may be your next governor ... she may be your next vice-president ... she may be your next president. And Lillian doesn’t get mad—she gets elected!

FYI: North Carolina ranked 32nd in 2000 among the states in number of women in the legislature.

“Membership in Lillian’s List is $50/year plus your pledge that you will, each election year, give at least $50 to each of two candidates recommended by Lillian’s List. Profiles of recommended candidates are mailed to members of Lillian’s List. Each member decides whom to support and writes checks directly to the candidates she or he chooses. Members send the checks to Lillian’s List; we forward them to the appropriate campaigns.”

lillianslist.com
Lillian’s List of NCPO Box 2473Chapel Hill, NC 27515phone: (919) 967-3438fax: (919) 967-3438email: info@lillianslist.org