Georgia’s American Journey: Wesleyan College and the fight for women’s education
Founded in 1836, Wesleyan College became the first institution in the world chartered to grant degrees to women.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – As America celebrates 250 years, one local landmark stands out for its bold role in breaking barriers: Wesleyan College.
It’s the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women.
Nearly two centuries ago, long before women could vote or hold many basic rights, a group of Macon citizens saw something others didn’t: the necessity of higher education for women. In 1836, they founded what would become a historic institution. Working alongside the Methodist Church, they opened Georgia Female College in 1839, a revolutionary step at a time when education for women was rare and often limited to finishing schools.
“Women weren’t able to go and get degrees before the founding of Wesleyan College,” Wesleyan College President Meaghan Blight said. “Those Methodist men who founded Wesleyan are the same who founded Emory, and they decided that women deserved an education.”
In 1843, the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church took over, and the state legislature renamed it “Wesleyan Female College.” By 1917, the school dropped “Female” from its name, becoming the Wesleyan College we know today. Its original campus was in downtown Macon, where the U.S. Post Office stands now. As the college grew, liberal arts classes moved to the Rivoli campus, while fine arts and music remained downtown until 1953.
When Wesleyan opened its doors in January 1839, 90 women enrolled in the first class. Unlike many schools of the era, Wesleyan offered a vigorous curriculum.
“The curriculum was rigorous,” Blight said. “It was arts and sciences, which, at the time was very, very different. It wasn’t just a conservatory or finishing school. This was a rigorous program, and so we started graduating out women who were leaders, thought leaders, activists, entrepreneurs.”
That commitment to academic excellence paid off. On July 16, 1840, Wesleyan granted the first documented college degree to a woman. Catherine Brewer. To put that milestone in perspective, when the U.S. was founded, only white land-owning men could vote. Women wouldn’t get the right to vote until the 1920s, nearly a century after Brewer’s graduation.
Wesleyan was home to America’s first sororities, and its graduates include the first Chinese women educated in the United States. The school also founded the nation’s first women’s alumni association.
But the fight for equality isn’t over.
“I think we have to acknowledge that women are still not considered equal when you think about the fact that there are more CEOs named John than there are female CEOs,” Blight said. “And so, acknowledging that we’re starting 100 yards back, it encourages institutions like us to focus on gender parity and equality.”
As Wesleyan celebrates its 190th anniversary, Blight says women should say “yes” to leadership opportunities.
“I think many of us were the first ones to think and be critical of ourselves and think, ‘I’m not ready. I’m not ready for that next step. Oh, think about somebody else.’ But we need you to say yes. We need you to be courageous and be brave.”
The college has produced trailblazers like Hazel Jane Raines, the first woman in Georgia to receive a commercial pilot’s license; Mary McKay, Georgia’s first woman to earn a medical degree; and Viola Ross Napier, the first woman to argue a case before the Georgia Supreme Court.
