Mattie Jean Adams

Mattie Jean Adams (September 16, 1873 - December 26, 1947) was an American author and women's rights activist, best known as pioneering figure in higher education, as the first woman to graduate from South Carolina College.

Personal life and education Mattie Jean Adams, the daughter of Thomas Hill Adams and Eliza Kelley, was born on September 16, 1873, in Utopia, Newberry County SC. Although women were allowed to attend classes, they were not permitted to live on campus, being expected to board with local families or relatives in Columbia.

Adams married Lawson Battle Haynes, who was the president of Leesville College, in 1913. She died on December 26, 1947, in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Teaching career After finishing her studies, Adams began teaching. She spent eighteen years as the head of the Department of English at Meridian Community College in Meridian, Mississippi. Adams took a leave of absence from 1900 to 1903 in order to participate in activism .

She also taught at the Alabama State Teachers College in Livingston, Alabama.

Meridian College awarded Adams an honorary doctorate in 1918.

Activism During her leave of absence in 1900, Adams worked as an organizer for the South Carolina Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The group was dedicated sharing information about temperance, suffrage, and social involvement. Adams traveled across South Carolina to organize local chapters, deliver speeches and promote moral and educational information to young women.

In 1909, Adams became a writer and traveled to Europe to tour England, France, and Italy. She wrote a series of travel letters published in The State newspaper of Columbia, South Carolina. Her letters consisted of her reflections of education, women's rights, and citizenship.