University of North Carolina Greensboro - Pine Needles Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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THE CARO LI N I AN Stale. Aliire iinpurtant still as affectiiiy l)i)th his happiness and future career, he was married in 1885, to Lula V. Martin, a graduate of Salem Academy and one of the most successful teachers of North Carolina. She it was who first directed his attention to the inadequate facilities for woman ' s education, and at her suggestion he made, before a teachers ' institute at ' inston. his first public speech in behalf of the higher education of women. At the time of her marriage she was a teacher in the Winston schools. Later she was lady principal of a seminary at Charlotte and was actively associated with her husband in his insti- tute and campaign work. She had a mutual part in formulating the plans which led to the establishment of the State Normal and Industrial College, and gave valuable assistance in all the details of its organization. Meanwhile the husband grew more and more zealous in the cause of educa- tion, especially public education. He magnified his calling, emphasized the dignity of teaching as a profession, urged better preparation and advocated the establishment of a State training school for teachers. For five years he now labored with apostolic fervor for the higher education of women. The school teacher, he declared, is our most important public official, and the proper train- ing of women is the strategic point in the education of the race. He became the recognized leader of a new movement and as such was appointed by the Teachers ' Assembly chairman of a committee to urge upon the General Assem- bly the necessity of establishing a State school for teachers. He urged, he ])leaded, he wrote, he argued, addressing schools, clubs, institutes, general audi- ences, and the Legislature. The first bill presented to the General Assembly failed of passage by a few votes. Mclver knew no discouragement. Another Assem- bly would meet in two years, and he would in the meanwhile carry his message direct to the people. His earnest labors had already caused the dawn of an educational renaissance. Provision was made for two assistants to the State Superintendent of Education. Charles D. Mclver and E. A. Alderman were called to the work, their duties, briefly stated, being to conduct teachers ' insti- tutes in every county and to thoroughly arouse the people to the necessity of education. Now began one of the most important campaigns ever conducted in the State, and perhaps one of the most interesting in the history of public education. For three years, from September, 1889, to September, 1902, winter and summer, these men preached a crusade in behalf of unversal education. In every county and in every important city and town in the State, by lectures, by teaching, by iniblic addresses, by conferences with teachers and school committeemen, by

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6 THE CAROLINIAN Vol.1. father and liis kiiisfulk, were nf luiylish descent. They were prosperous people of high social standing, whose name may he found in an official and legislative capacity in the historical records of our State. .S])rung from this noble ancestry, of which in his democratic sympathies he said little even to his most intimate friends: inheriting with strength of mind and body a reverent faith in God; and early taught b - a cultured mother the dignity of manual labor and a love for what is best in human achievement ; — Charlie ilclvcr grew up a fine specimen of vigorous, self-reliant young manhood, strong in the determination to wear worthily an honored name and to be of some service to his State and generation. In the fall of 1877 young Mclver entered the University of North Carolina. A mong the students in attendance there and destined to be intimately associated with him in his educational labors of later years, were Charles B. Aycock, Edwin A. Alderman and James Y. Joyner. Mclver entered with characteristic zeal upon his new and broader life. He kept himself clean in mind and body, made wholesome progress in his studies, grew steadily in the estimation of faculty and students, won special distinction in Greek. Latin and French, and was hon- orably graduated in 1881 with the A. B. degree. The fall of 1881 found him filling an assistant ' s place in a private school at Durham. A few months later he became principal of the school. During the spring of 1882 a movement was inaugurated at Durham for the establishment of a public school .system supported by local taxation. When the opponents of the movement, thinking of course that a private school man would be quick to oppose a measure so adverse to his own interests, invited Mclver to unite with them in accomplishing its defeat, they were amazed to hear him reply, I shall not oppose it : on the contrary, I intend to vote for it and to do all in my power to see that the election is carried. The election was carried and the progressive young educator was called upon to assist in the organization of the system, and to serve as the first principal of the Durham Graded Schools. Eighteen months later he was called to Winston to perform a similar work of organization for the newly-established graded schools of that city. There he remained from ] ' ebruary, 1SS4. until September, 188Ci, when he became principal of the literar ' Aleanwhile. rnilcsscr Mclver, as he now came to be called, had associated himself with the North Carolina Teachers ' Assembly and henceforth took an active part in all its deliberations. Every summer vacation was devoted to county institute work. He was thus gaining a more intimate acquaintance with his fellow-teachers anil familiarizing himself with the educational needs of his

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THE CAROLINIAN talks willi taniKTS. editors, county ot ciaU and politicians, by ever}- apiirovcd method, in short, known to advocate and reformer the work was dihgently and vigorously prosecuted. And through it all and at the base of all and dominating all was the keynote sounded by Mclver: The cheapest, easiest, and surest road to universal education is to educate the women, those who are to be the mothers and teachers of future generations. The work was done as it had never been done before, — as it need never be done again in North Carolina. In 1891 Chairman jMcIver and his associates were again before the Legislature with a bill for the establishment of a State institution for the higher education and normal training of women. The bill passed almost without opposition and Charles Duncan Mclver was elected president. Now it was that this people ' s servant entered u])on the work of building a people ' s college, an institution that should be worthy of the great State that gave it l)irth. It should be an open door of opportunity to every worthy white girl within the borders of the Commonwealth — a means of fitting her for good and useful citizenship. A woman ' s college for North Carolina women it should be, characterized by sound learning, liberal culture, earnest living and high think- ing. The best that a State could give should be theirs ; the best that educated women could give should be the State ' s. In this spirit was the institution con- ceived, and in this spirit the State Normal and Industrial College lived and grew anad prosj ered. presided over, insjiired. guided and led by one who gave it all that man may give. It is doubtful if any other public institutitm was ever in so true a sense the product of the unselfish love and labor of one man. As to him in largest meas- ure are owing its conception and creation, so to him are due the policy which characterizes it, and the success which it has achieved. And this is true not merely in the larger matters pertaining to its general management, but in the many details relating to its work and administration. The college plant and its equi])nient. the departments of instruction, the courses of study, the various organizations, the ideas for which the institution stands, the spirit it exemplifies, the work it seeks to accomplish, all these are of his creation and this not through mere formal oversight and ofificial dictation, but through the living spirit of creative work and fellow-service. The hand and heart and l rain of Dr Mclver were felt throughout the insti- tution, but most, perhaps, in what may be called the spirit of the College. Its s])iritual and mental atmosphere was a life-giving tonic, an iminilse to noble