Gladys Avery Tillett

Began her political career in the early 1910s, while attending the Women’s College in Greensboro. Organized the Mecklenburg County League of Women Voters in 1920. Selected in 1943 by President Roosevelt to be vice-chair of the Democratic Party, and later was the first woman to address the national convention. Appointed by President Kennedy in 1961 to the UN Commission on the Status of Women and began educating and empowering women all over the world. Woman of the Year 1961.