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Our nation’s history is filled with women working together to bring about equality, freedom, and social justice for all people. Consider the women’s rights movement, launched in 1848. It became a 72-year campaign to secure women’s right to vote. Generations of bold women defied the status quo. They became fervent social change agents. Success arrived in 1920 when the nineteenth amendment became law of the land, yet it took nearly another 70 years before women in Maxton, North Carolina could claim elected office.
Spearheading this modern-day women’s rights movement was Lillie McKoy. Like her 19th century suffragist sisters, Lillie found bold women who were willing to join her. Together, they challenged the status quo and ran for office. When they announced their candidacy to the Maxton Citizens for Progress, a male-dominated group in charge of shaping the future of Maxton, they met strong resistance. They chose to stand firm and do it their way. In 1989, Lillie McKoy, Geraldine McLaurin and Sallie McLean (pictured at left) ran on a single ticket for the three open Commissioner’s seats on Maxton’s Town Council. They called themselves “The Three Mc’s.” “We knew the men did not want us in office and that was food for our souls. We weathered the storm,” says McKoy. Lillie McKoy’s ability to overcome obstacles and turn them into successes developed at a young age. Lillie McKoy grew up in a poor neighborhood, in a family of 22 siblings. She did not have the privilege of riding the school bus; instead she walked a mile and a half to school everyday. At 15 she left home to escape incest. She found a safe haven in town with a lady everyone called “momma.” Lillie stayed in school and graduated as valedictorian of her class. After two years of factory work, Lillie out-migrated to New York with hope for a brighter future. “I believe you can be anything you want to be, you just got to WANT to be,” says Lillie. She was willing to begin wherever she could get her foot in the door. Domestic work led to work in a coffee shop. Then, she decided to advance her education. She attended New York City College, while maintaining her full-time job in the coffee shop, and graduated with a degree in business administration. Lillie returned to Maxton with her husband, Lee Vester McKoy, Jr., after living in New York for twelve years. She found her hometown in decay. Vacant store fronts, insufficient streetlights, no teen curfew. Lillie McKoy knew she wanted more for her hometown and she was willing to blaze new trails to make it happen. On election night in 1989, “The Three Mc’s” upseated 100 years of all male elected officials in the Town of Maxton. “Change began that night in the Town of Maxton. Once we got in, no more on the outside looking in. Things were different,” says McKoy. The night “The Three Mc’s” were sworn into office, McKoy was selected as Mayor Pro Tem.
Six years later, Lillie McKoy again pushed tradition’s envelope. “I knew that a strong Mayor with a united council could really change Maxton.” She ran for Mayor. With her victory, Lillie McKoy became “the first woman, the first African American woman, the only woman in Robeson County” to be elected Mayor. Today, she is serving her fourth term as Mayor of the Town of Maxton. A diverse range of revitalization activity continues, from beautification projects to water and sewer infrastructure projects. Plus, there’s a vision for an even greater Town of Maxton. Mayor McKoy handed me a long, handwritten list of current and future goals. “When I ran for office, they told me Maxton was a bedroom town, no one wanted anything but to go away and work and come back and sleep,” says McKoy. Then, with an ear-to-ear grin she continues, “We’re not sleeping anymore. We’re not sleeping anymore.” As we celebrate National Women’s History Month, Mayor McKoy’s message to women is a modern-day amplification of the women’s rights movement. She says, “Be
bold about what you are about. Her message reinforces a message expressed by Sojourner Truth, U.S. Abolitionist and Reformer, at the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down, these women together ought to be able to turn it right side up again.” Mayor McKoy, thank you for demonstrating that the women’s rights movement is not just history. It’s a modern-day story with modern-day "sheroes" working together to bring about equality, freedom, and social justice for all people Mayor Lillie McKoy can be contacted at Town of Maxton, 201 McCaskill Street, Maxton, NC 28364. Call 910-844-5231. MayorMcKoy@aol.com Pictured above is the Patterson Building, a Maxton landmark. Built in 1911 by J.A. Patterson for the Bank of Robeson. Designed after Flatiron Building of New York City. The Patterson Building also housed the Maxton Post Office from 1932-1952.
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With
knowledge of the town’s needs, McKoy began to organize and
put plans into action to revitalize
a decaying town. A public forum was added to the
meeting agenda to get input from citizens. The Patterson
Building, an historical building in the center of town,
was purchased and funds were raised to renovate it. Today, it is
the Town Hall. 
Marilyn
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