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From
the 1970s through now, many introductions included the words "The
first woman to....” Margie Elizabeth Neal of Carthage,
Texas, really was the first woman to do lots of things and do
them well, besides.
Margie Neal was born in Clayton,
a community located near Carthage,
Texas, seat of government for Panola
County, to William Lafayette and Martha Gholson Neal, in 1875.
After attending Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville,
Neal taught in schools in Carthage
and Fort Worth.
Neal retained an interest in education all her life, but moved on
to careers in journalism, elected office, and other public service.
For example, in 1903 she moved back to Carthage
to become editor of the town newspaper, the Texas Mule, when
her father purchased it for her. She rechristened the newspaper
the East Texas Register and edited it until 1911.
Then began the many avenues of Neal's public service. Neal became
active in the crusade for woman's suffrage, and, when that fight
was won, became the first female registered voter in Panola
County. She was also the first female member of the State Democratic
Executive Committee, and a delegate to the Democratic Nominating
Convention in 1920. Governor Pat Neff appointed Neal to the board
of regents for the state system of teacher's colleges in 1921, and
she served until 1927.
Neal won election to the Texas State Senate in 1926, the first woman
elected to that branch of state government. She sponsored legislation
that created the State Board of Education, that required the introduction
of physical education to the curriculum of public schools, and that
required accommodation of students with disabilities.
During the Depression of the 1930s, Neal worked with the National
Recovery Administration and the Social Security Administration,
in Washington, San Antonio,
and Dallas, before returning
to Carthage,
where she lived until her death in 1952. By then, following Margie
Neal's lead, other East Texas women that become the first to...do
whatever they wanted.
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