Skip to main content

Excerpts from the Herstory of Women at Carolina

Missy Julian Fox

Missy Julian-Fox

Welcome to Digging in Our Heels: a herstory of women at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In 2015, the UNC Visitors’ Center asked Taylor Livingston, PhD candidate in Anthropology, to develop this tour using interviews conducted through the Southern Oral History Program. Our purpose was to introduce today's students to the historical path that women traveled to become part of the nation's first public university.

UNC did not allow women to enroll for the first 100 years of its existence. Full acceptance as students, faculty and staff took nearly the next 100 years, until the passage of Title IX in 1972 banned any limitations on enrollment or hiring. Women worked hard to gain a place at at UNC.  This tour tells some of the story about their struggle.

Missy Julian-Fox ‘73, Director, UNC Visitors’ Center

Last updated: Summer 2017