Mary Hilliard Hinton (June 7, 1869 – January 6, 1961) was an American painter, historian, clubwoman, and anti-suffragist. She was a leader in North Carolina's anti-suffragist movement and an outspoken

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

, co-founding and running North Carolina's branches of the States Rights Defense League and the Southern Rejection League. A prominent clubwoman, Hinton was active in the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promot ...

, the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

, the

Colonial Dames of America The Colonial Dames of America (CDA) is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor who lived in British America from 1607 to 1775, and was of service to the colonies by either holding public office, being in th ...

, and the

National Society of the Colonial Dames of America The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor "who came to reside in an American Colony before 1776, and whose services were rendered during the Colonial Pe ...

; serving as a booklet editor, artist, registrar, and state regent for the North Carolina Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Biography

Hinton was born on June 7, 1869, at Midway Plantation, her family's plantation in

Wake County Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...

(now part of Knightdale). She was the daughter of Major David Hinton, a planter, Confederate officer and alumnus of the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, NC School o ...

, and his wife Mary Boddie Carr, a sister of Governor Elias Carr of

Bracebridge Hall ''Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley'' was written by Washington Irving in 1821, while he lived in England, and published in 1822. This episodic novel was originally published under his pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon. Plot introduction As t ...

in Tarboro and cousin of industrialist Julian Carr of Poplar Hill Plantation in Hillsborough. Her paternal grandfather, Charles Lewis Hinton, served as the

North Carolina State Treasurer The North Carolina State Treasurer is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina responsible for overseeing the financial operations of state government. The current state treasurer is Dale Folwell. The office of state treas ...

. Her father's family also owned the nearby River Plantation, The Oaks Plantation, Beaver Dam Plantation, Clay Hill Plantation, Square Brick Plantation, and Panther Rock Plantation. She was a descendant of Colonel John Hinton, who served in the Wake County Regiment of the

Hillsborough District Brigade The Hillsborough District Brigade of militia was an administrative division of the North Carolina militia established on May 4, 1776. Brigadier General Thomas Person was the first commander. Companies from the eight regiments of the brigade wer ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Through her mother, she was a relative of the Boddie family, who owned Rose Hill Plantation in Nash County. Midway Plantation House

She was educated at Saint Mary's School and the

Peace Institute Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

. Hinton studied

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

under Ruth Huntington Moore, an artist who served on the faculty at Peace Institute. Hinton was an active clubwoman and was a member of multiple lineage societies, including the

, the

, the Order of the Crown of America, and the Daughters of the Barons of Runnemede. She held the positions of registrar, state regent, and heraldic artist for the North Carolina Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was an editor of the society's North Carolina Booklet, where she would write about North Carolinian history. Hinton also served as the chairwoman of the art department of the Raleigh Woman's Club, and was a member of the

Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities Founded in 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. In 2003 the organization adopted the new name APVA Preservation Virginia to reflect a broader focus o ...

, North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, the

Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

, and the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

. She was a leading worker in the Anti-Suffrage League, petitioning and actively working against the Women's suffrage movement in the United States, disenfranchising African-Americans, and upholding

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

. Hinton argued against enfranchising women and co-organized two of North Carolina's anti-suffrage associations, the States Rights Defense League and the Southern Rejection League. She also promoted the

Lost Cause of the Confederacy The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. F ...

, romanticized

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, and glorified the

Antebellum South In the history of the Southern United States, the Antebellum Period (from la, ante bellum, lit= before the war) spanned the end of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The Antebellum South was characterized by the ...

in her writings, particularly in her article titled ''A Type of the Old South''. Hinton was a practicing

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

and a parishioner at Christ Episcopal Church in Raleigh. She died at Midway Plantation on January 6, 1961, and is buried in the Hinton family cemetery at The Oaks Plantation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton, Mary Hilliard 1869 births 1961 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters American portrait painters American women editors American women historians American women painters Anti-suffragists

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also call ...

Colonial Dames of America Daughters of the American Revolution people Episcopalians from North Carolina Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy National Audubon Society National Geographic Society National Society of the Colonial Dames of America Painters from North Carolina People from Knightdale, North Carolina William Peace University alumni St. Mary's School (North Carolina) alumni