Work With Children
Over half of the annual projects that State's Mates committed themselves to were aimed at helping children in need, particularly orphans, kids with disciplinary problems, and children with visual impairments. The bulk of information regarding these annual projects is documented in the annual reports. During the inaugural year of the Projects Committee, State's Mates devoted themselves to the Wake County Detention Home. A group of members went to the home every other Sunday in order to provide the children with a picnic dinner and to run a recreation program. The group also purchased rugs, curtain materials, board games, and records for the children at the home. State's Mates did grow discouraged with the home because there were sometimes no children there. Although a lack of children at the detention center seems like a good thing, the women of State's Mates were eager to engage with children and provide a nurturing environment for them.
Several other annual projects that State's Mates engaged in similarly targeted children. In 1961, State's Mates chose the North Carolina State School for the Blind as their project. Although the club scaled back monthly visits to the home, several members “adopted” children at the home, providing Christmas gifts for them. The State's Mates also hosted a Christmas party in their honor and made a $50 donation for the repair of a broken television set.
This commitment to children closely aligns with the prerogative of women's civic activities during the post-war era: women typically embraced projects that targeted impoverished or neglected children. While proponents of the social motherhood movement seemed to adhere to traditional gender roles, social reform fell into the domain of women as a result of the nurturing roles that women were assumed to have performed in the home. This expertise created a public outlet for women by which they could extend their motherly skills to society, directly shaping educational, social, and welfare policies. This enabled women to challenge, transform, and resist the domestic stereotype by becoming key players in social reform, politics, and civic duties.
Although the social advocacy of State's Mates did not directly shape local, state, or national politics, the organization still sought to serve their community and developed a public voice through these actions. As evidenced by the prevalence of articles relating to public service in local newspapers and the Wagg'n Tongue, volunteerism became an outlet for the group to express themselves publicly. The newspaper clipping, “Children Adopted by State's Mates,” shows that it was both important to State's Mates to have volunteerism attached to their image and that through these activities, they were given a wide-reaching public voice to emphasize their social concerns.
Visit other Exhibits in the Good Wife Diploma.
This letter accompanies a donation from State's Mates for the Hilltop Home.
This 1960 committee report details the ideas that State's Mates members suggested as possibilties for their annual project.
This report outlines the needs of the Wake County Detention Home in the fall of 1960.
This letter to the Hilltop Home accompanied a monetary donation from the State's Mates organization.
State's Mate publicized some of their civic activities. This clipping outlines the work that they did with children at a school for the visually-impaired.