North Carolina's Revolutionary women demonstrated distinct political assertiveness. Penelope Barker likely organized the Edenton Tea Party in which 51 women signed a resolve supporting the North Carolina First Provincial Congress’s boycott of British goods and sent it to London's Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser. This event is widely considered the first organized political action by women in the colonies. Jane Spurgeon, whose Loyalist husband abandoned the family for Canada following the war, petitioned the General Assembly three times for title to her home, claiming the "common rights of citizens," a radical assertion for a woman of that era, and ultimately received 400 acres. Temperance Austin personally negotiated the surrender of her household to Loyalist militia leader David Fanning during a three-hour battle at her home in 1781, sparing her husband and his Patriot militiamen. House-in-the-Horseshoe, where this standoff took place, still stands as a North Carolina State Historic Site.
Interviewees
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Sally Bloom
- Curator of Distance Education, North Carolina Museum of History
