EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Feb. 17, 2020.
WILLIAMSBURG — When the Williamsburg Area League of Women Voters first started in 1962, it wasn’t without a fight.
The league started with a little more than two dozen women, some of whom were African American, said Mary Ann Moxon, communications director for the Williamsburg League.
Moxon said when the local women went to become an established league, they found themselves turned away because there were black women involved. There were no integrated leagues in Virginia at the time, but Moxon said the founding Williamsburg members didn’t give up.
“This was during a time when Jim Crow was still the rule of the land,” Moxon said. “But they persisted and became the first integrated league in the state…Now, it’s our history that motivates us.”