North Carolina Women: Rebels with a Cause

Picture a 46-year-old widow rallying 50 women to dump British tea, or a teen galloping through the night to warn of an attack. These aren’t movie plots—they’re real women who shaped America.

Sybil Ludington: The Relentless Teen Rider

The British had entered Danbury and began drinking, ransacking, and looting the town. The 400-member militia was on furlough. At the age of 16, Sybil Ludington leapt onto her horse and galloped 40 miles in the rain, through the night—doubling Paul Revere’s famed ride—to alert American forces of a looming attack by the British. Along the journey, she even fought off a man on the road with her father's musket.

Mary Katharine Goddard: Pen as a Sword

Goddard wasn’t merely a printer; she was a fearless spirit. Her big moment came in January 1777. The Continental Congress needed the Declaration of Independence spread far and wide, but the first printing by John Dunlap in Philadelphia was just a quick draft. They wanted a version with all the signers’ names—something official, something bold, for preservation. Mary stepped up. She printed the document in her Baltimore shop, and here’s the kicker: she slapped her own name on it, right at the bottom with “Baltimore: Printed by Mary Katharine Goddard.” That wasn’t just a flex; it was a risk. If the Revolution had flopped, the British could have come for her head.

The Goddard Broadside was the first printed version of the Declaration of Independence specifically intended for preservation.

Penelope Barker: The Rebel Rallier

In 1774, Penelope Barker masterminded the Edenton Tea Party, rallying over 50 women to boycott British tea in a groundbreaking act of defiance—one of the earliest women’s political protests in America. She had a knack for uniting voices to confront threats to our nation’s foundation. The Edenton women were also satirized in a political cartoon published in London in March 1775. Even though the Edenton Tea Party was ridiculed in England, it was praised in the colonies. The women of Edenton represented American frustrations with English monarchical rule and the need for American separation and independence.

These women didn’t simply witness history—they shaped it with grit and grace.

That same fiery determination shines in the service of the women who volunteer with North Carolina Convention of States Action, whether it is pounding the pavement to share our mission at breakfasts, library meetings, grassroots training, petition tables, block walking, texting, making phone calls, or capitol surges. We are leaving a legacy of freedom. You can carry the legacy of freedom forward by volunteering with North Carolina Convention of States Action.