Mary Settle Sharpe (1863-1944) was a woman ahead of her time, in both education and politics. She was an early member of the faculty of State Normal and Industrial College (UNC Greensboro) and was also the first woman nominated for public office in the state of North Carolina after the ratification of the 19th Amendment […]
Category: May Day
Student Dancer, 1928 (p. 275) Dance has always been a very important part of the history of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). When the college opened in 1892 as the State Normal and Industrial School, “movement” was taught as part of the Physiology and Hygiene curriculum under the direction of resident physician […]
Have you ever wondered how UNCG acquired such a beautiful green space on the northern edge of its campus? Well, the founding and development of Peabody Park is a fascinating story that reflects UNCG’s overall growth as a center of higher learning and a Greensboro neighbor. Given the complexity of the story, the Park’s history is being […]
May Day – the celebration of a new season for crops, new beginnings, and the crowning of spring royalty. In 1904, The State Normal and Industrial School, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, held their first ever May Day celebration, which consisted of performances of Shakespearean plays, musical processions, and dancing around flower […]
While the earliest campus presentations were staged as entertainment for visits by state dignitaries, increasingly, other sources of student entertainment began to sprout up at the State Normal and Industrial School (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). Recitals were planned by music professor Wade Brown, who also assisted the campus Literary Societies in […]
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Campus May Queens
Each year that a May Day celebration was held on campus, a May Queen was elected. From the biggest festivals of 1912 and 1916 to the final year of 1954, a May Queen was present. She was typically a senior elected by her classmates who served as the mascot of the event and in the […]
For the first fifty years, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) celebrated May Day. May Day revels were based on ideas of Renaissance England, where the first day of May signified the end of winter. Traditional May Day fetes were filled with activities such as decorating a May Pole, crowning a queen, and […]
May Pole Dancers, 1916 The tradition of celebrating May Day can be traced back to the pre-Christian era when the first day of May marked the end of winter in Northern Europe. Rituals celebrated fertility and the planting of new crops with gathering flowers, dancing around a tall pole, and crowning a queen. Traditions such […]
