Janet Palmer

Image Source: Yackety Yack, 1938, p. 112. Senior class photo, UNC.

Appointed by Governor W. Kerr Scott (1896–1958), Janet Palmer served one term as a trustee from 1949 through 1955, succeeding Mrs. Julien Carr (Alla May) Holland (1894–1971) of Raleigh. During her tenure, Palmer helped guide East Carolina’s development as it advanced, by legislative decree, from a teachers college to a four-year liberal arts college. Simultaneous with that milestone, East Carolina emerged as a fully co-educational school with an increasingly dominant male student body. Physically, Palmer struggled with the aftermath of infantile paralysis (polio), which left her challenged to participate consistently in East Carolina’s board meetings and the school’s many activities. Still, Clyde A. Erwin, ex officio chair of the board, appointed her to serve on a committee, chaired by Arthur Tyler (1896–1978), working with college officials to organize a scholarship fund drive. Through her efforts on this, Palmer contributed positively to East Carolina’s progress. In 1955, with the expiration of Palmer’s term, Governor Luther Hodges appointed Mr. William B. Umstead (1901–1988) of Durham, wife of the late governor, William B. Umstead (1895–1954) to succeed her.

While a trustee, Palmer and other board members encountered one of the most consequential challenges facing East Carolina in the mid-twentieth century, that of desegregation. During WWII, the U. S. Armed Forces had achieved a level of desegregation, prompting many to ask when similar social progress would occur in other dimensions of public life. In 1951, coinciding with the United States involvement in the Korean War, East Carolina’s board received a request for admission and possibly scholarship funding for Korean students. In response, the board flatly declined to consider admission for Korean students, appealing to East Carolina’s charter which stated that the school was meant for the education of “young white men and women.” The minutes of that meeting record no objections from Palmer or other trustees.

However, Palmer missed the 1952 meeting where East Carolina’s board, appealing to the school’s Jim Crow charter, declined to make extension courses offered at Cherry Point Marine base in Jacksonville available to African American Marines stationed there. Palmer also missed the 1954 meeting where the board responded to the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring segregation unconstitutional. Rather than affirm intent to comply promptly, the ECC board stated it would stand by the school’s segregated status quo provided for in the Jim Crow charter, “until instructed by higher authority to do otherwise.” Although she did not attend the 1952 and 1954 meetings, Palmer’s public life offers no reason to imagine that she opposed the staunchly segregationist stance taken by the board.

A native of Hookerton in Greene County, Palmer overcame both gender marginalization and physical issues when she became, in 1936, one the very few female students admitted to the University of North Carolina. She graduated two years later with a Bachelor of Science degree in commerce. At Chapel Hill, she joined the Chi Omega sorority and remained an active sister-alum throughout her life.

Between 1941 and 1947, Palmer, then residing in Raleigh, was appointed on four different occasions to serve as an assistant to the principal clerk of the state senate. In that capacity, she immersed herself in the politics of the General Assembly and political life in the capital, receiving a $6 per day salary. During the same years, she also worked as an insurance agent for the Southern Fire Insurance Company based in Durham.

Active in Democratic Party politics throughout her life, Palmer served as the Hookerton-Greene County chair for the “Gregg Cherry-for-Governor” campaign in 1944. And then in 1954, during her last year as an ECC trustee, Terry Sanford (1917–1998), then campaign manager for former governor W. Kerr Scott’s candidacy for the U. S. Senate, appointed Palmer to a committee coordinating Scott’s campaign in Greene County. In 1968, Palmer ran for the Democratic nomination for district judge of the Eighth Judicial District but was not elected.

Sources

• “Aycock is Called Ideal Motivating Kerr Scott.” Charlotte Observer. May 19, 1954. P. 14.
• “Cherry Campaign Organization Complete.” Durham Sun. May 5, 1944. P. 2.
• “Chi Omega Alumnae Entertained.” Charlotte News. August 19, 1941. P. 9.
• “College Trustees Chosen by Scott.” Statesville Daily Record. June 15, 1949. P. 9.
• “‘Dime Bowl’ Game Opens Here.”
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, May 17, 1952.” University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10264
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes May 22, 1954.” University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10268
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, November 20, 1951.” University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10266
• “ECC Board Holds Meeting.” News and Observer. February 17, 1952. P. 8.
• “ECTC Trustees Hold Session.” News and Observer. February 18, 1950. P. 7.
• Fentress, Simmons. “Senate Employs 81 as Helpers: Upper House of Assembly Has Six Less than in 1945; Salaries Revealed.” News and Observer. February 2, 1947. P. 4.
• “Governor Fills Two More Boards.” Statesville Record and Landmark. July 8, 1955. P. 10.
• Jenkins, Jay. “Late-Filers Race to Beat Deadline, Unexpected Candidates Offer Selves on Altar of Public Service.” Charlotte Observer. February 24, 1968. P. 1.
• Newsom, Frances. “Labor Shortage No Worry to the General Assembly.” News and Observer. February 28, 1943. Pp. 1, 2.
• Rider, Sondra. “Tar Heel Women Seeking Almost Every Office Except Governor’s.” News and Observer. May 2, 1968. P. 25.
• “Seventy Persons Get Senate Jobs: List of Clerks, Stenographers, Pages and Laborers is Near Completion.” News and Observer. January 31, 1941. P. 18.

Related Materials

Image Source: Yackety Yack, 1937, p. 141. Junior class photo, UNC.

Image Source: News and Observer, January 16, 1947, p. 14. Miss Janet Palmer supports the March of Dimes “Dime Bowl”

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