Sallie Southall Cotten

Sallie Swepson Sims Southall Cotten (June 13, 1846 – May 4, 1929) was an American writer and clubwoman based in North Carolina. She helped to organize the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs. She was the organization's fifth president, and wrote the federation's anthem and a history of the federation.

Early life and education

Cotten was born Sallie Swepson Sims Southall in Lawrenceville, Virginia, the daughter of Thomas J. Southall and Susanna Sims Southall. She was raised in the home of an uncle in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. She attended Wesleyan Female College (which closed during her time there, in the tumult of the American Civil War) and Greensboro Female College, graduating from the latter in 1863.

Career

In her mid-forties, Sallie Cotten accepted an appointment from governor Elias Carr to serve as one of North Carolina's managers at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. "I had never traveled much, and felt utterly unprepared," she confessed to the Charlotte Observer, "but I soon felt at home...and I found that the years of home duties had fitted me for the fields of larger service." She decided to focus on books written by North Carolina women for her part of the exhibit, spent four months in Chicago, and received a medal for her contributions. As a result, she wrote the book The White Doe (1901), which begins with a history of America, and continues with the Indian legend of the white doe as poetry. This work and the travel involved led her to greater involvement with the women's club movement, and in 1902 she helped to organize the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs. She was the organization's fifth president (1912-1913), and wrote the federation's anthem.