A History of the LWV of South Carolina

In tribute to the centennial of the League of Women Voters and the 19th Amendment Sheila Haney’s book In Her Shoes: A History of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina, 1920-2020 is a timeless gift. Haney’s research in the Sarah Leverette papers of the South Carolina League of Women Voters at the Hollings Political Collections Library at the University of South Carolina, supplemented by personal interviews with key league leaders, and the author’s own decades of leadership and experience with the South Carolina LWV constitute the basis for the study. The book updates a previous history of the South Carolina LWV entitled Proud Heritage (Bryan, 1977).

In Her Shoes provides a historical overview of the South Carolina LWV, portraits of several pivotal League leaders, and detailed chapters on central long-running policy concerns of the organization. Women’s efforts to improve communities and shape society are underappreciated, undocumented, and unheralded. Here we have a book that displays the impact which decades of efforts by women had on one state’s constitution, ethics, voting, schools, courts, taxes and fees, and physical environment.

~ Review by Laura R. Oliver
   President of the League of Women Voters Columbia Area