Oral History Interview with Mary Turner Lane, September 9 and 16, 1986; May 21, 1987; October 1 and 28, 1987. Interview L-0039. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
Mary Turner Lane was the first director of the women's studies program at the University of North Carolina. In this interview, she discusses the events that shaped her career, including the importance her parents placed on education, and her experience at Salem College. After graduation, Lane became an elementary school teacher. During this time she met and married Tom Lane, whose death in World War II left her devastated. After a period of mourning and appraisal of her life, she returned to school to renew her teacher's license. Lane discovered that she loved higher education and eventually entered the Ph.D. program at Duke. Though she had support from the families around her, relatively few other women of her generation had made choices similar to hers. Once she graduated, she joined the faculty at UNC. One of the first committee responsibilities Lane had involved changing the curfew rules for women. When the chancellor formed a committee to examine the feasibility of launching a women's studies department, Lane recalls, the appointed male and female faculty were divided by age, experience, and passion. She discusses how the women overcame those barriers. Though Lane did not actively seek the position as the first director of women's studies, she accepted it when the dean offered her the position. One of Lane's primary objectives was to publicize the existence, purpose and achievements of the new program. Lane does not remember having any steady male support during this time, though a few faculty and administrators were generally friendly. She also recalls the resistance that she encountered from the female students and speculates about what caused them to feel as they did. Lane believes much has changed since then but that much more needs to be done for female students and faculty at UNC. She discusses what she believes to be the key issues for both groups.
Excerpts
Communual responsibility to care for the impoverished
Changes in education as community schools have disappeared
High school experiences and parents' commitment to her education
Time at Salem College.
Structure of curricula at Salem College
Extracurricular life at Salem College
Regulations on social life at Salem College
Young women at Salem College struggled to figure out who they would be once they graduated
Memories of life as a single career woman
Effects of war and the memory of war on childhood
Influence of the movies on early worldview
Courtship and marriage
Tom and Mary Turner Lane's marriage and the birth of their daughter
Working through husband's sudden death and finding a new life direction
Return to school to pursue M.Ed.
Challenges faced as a single mother in graduate school
Support from young families in the community
Perspective on the social changes that came to UNC during the 1960s
Students take a more proactive role in campus policy
Mary Ellen Lane's time at UNC
Katherine Carmichael's adaptation to the changing position of women on campus
The committee that proposed the women's studies program
Finding a pattern to follow for the women's studies coursework
Faculty apathy for the new women's studies program
Carving a spot for women's studies within the university
Publicizing the existence of women's studies
Raising awareness of feminist issues among students through Women's Studies 50
Publicizing women's studies
Continued difficulties for female faculty and staff
Resistance to feminism by female students
Growth of the Christian Right
Lane reflects on her accomplishments
Challenges yet facing women faculty and students
Learn More
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Southern Women Trailblazers Learning Object
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