Shaw Residence Hall, designed by Harry Barton of Greensboro, North Carolina, was opened in 1919. In 1921 it was named for Anna Howard Shaw, leader in the women’s suffrage movement, who visited the campus several times. Shaw held degrees in theology and medicine and served as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1904-1916.
At the time of campus desegregation in 1956, one wing of the first floor of Shaw Residence Hall served as the home of JoAnn Smart and Bettye Ann Davis Tillman, the first African American students to attend Woman’s College.