Wilma Dykeman Stokely

1920–2006

Wilma Stokely’s appointment as adjunct professor of English was announced on June 28, 1985, at the opening session of “Our Creative Community,” a two-day festival spotlighting Tennessee’s fine arts and folk arts. A member of the College of Liberal Arts Board of Visitors, she had been a guest lecturer and commencement speaker (1980) at UT. She was born in the Beaverdam community of Buncombe County, North Carolina, now part of Asheville. She attended Biltmore Junior College (now The University of North Carolina at Asheville) graduating in 1938, and Northwestern University, where she was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa and graduated with a major in speech in 1940.

In August 1940 she was introduced to her future husband, James R. Stokely Jr. of Newport by Mabel Wolfe, the sister of Thomas Wolfe. She wrote a total of 18 books, both fiction and nonfiction, collaborating on several with her husband. From 1962 to 2000, she was a columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Two collections of her columns were published in book form. She also contributed regular columns to the Newport Plain Talk and published in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Reader’s Digest, and U.S. News & World Report. She was a popular lecturer, giving 50-75 lectures a year, by her own estimate.

In addition to teaching classes at UT, she taught at Berea College. She was a member of the board of trustees of Berea College and a member of the advisory board of the University of North Carolina. In 1981 Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander named her Tennessee State Historian, an honorary role that she filled until 2002. In 1985 she received the North Carolina Award for literature. In 1957 she shared the Sidney Hillman Award with her husband for their book Neither Black Nor White. In 1994 she received the Pride of Tennessee Award from Tennessee Governor Ned Ray McWherter. Other awards include the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Trophy, a Guggenheim Fellowship (1956), a National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Fellowship, and the Tennessee Conservation Writer of the Year Award. She was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame and received honorary degrees from several colleges and universities.

Citation Information

The following information is provided for citations.

  • Title Wilma Dykeman Stokely
  • Coverage 1920–2006
  • Author
  • Keywords Wilma Dykeman Stokely
  • Website Name Volopedia
  • Publisher University of Tennessee Libraries
  • URL
  • Access Date July 15, 2025
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update October 16, 2018