There is a long line of influential women in Georgia history, going back to Mary Musgrove in Colonial times, and moving ahead to today with politicians such as Karen Handel, Shirley Franklin and Cynthia McKinney. Along the way are women that established colleges and schools (Martha Berry, Susie King Taylor), women famous in the Civil Rights movement (Coretta Scott King and Charlayne Hunter-Gault), authors (Kate Cumming, Celestine Sibley, Corra Harris, Margaret Mitchell, Flannery O'Connor), Revolutionary War heroes (Mary Hart), the founder of the Girl Scouts (Juliette Gordon Low), and, of course, a First Lady (Rosalynn Carter). We look at 30 influential women in Georgia in this book. The book contains 49 illustrations.

This first of two volumes extends from the founding of the colony of Georgia in 1733 up to the Progressive era. From the beginning, Georgia women were instrumental in shaping the state, yet most histories minimize their contributions. The essays in this volume include women of many ethnicities and classes who played an important role in Georgia’s history. Though sources for understanding the lives of women in Georgia during the colonial period are scarce, the early essays profile Mary Musgrove, an important player in the relations between the Creek nation and the British Crown, and the loyalist Elizabeth Johnston, who left Georgia for Nova Scotia in 1806. Another essay examines the near-mythical quality of the American Revolution-era accounts of "Georgia's War Woman," Nancy Hart. The later essays are multifaceted in their examination of the way different women experienced Georgia's antebellum social and political life, the tumult of the Civil War, and the lingering consequences of both the conflict itself and Emancipation. After the war, both necessity and opportunity changed women's lives, as educated white women like Eliza Andrews established or taught in schools and as African American women like Lucy Craft Laney, who later founded the Haines Institute, attended school for the first time. Georgia Women also profiles reform-minded women like Mary Latimer McLendon, Rebecca Latimer Felton, Mildred Rutherford, Nellie Peters Black, and Martha Berry, who worked tirelessly for causes ranging from temperance to suffrage to education. The stories of the women portrayed in this volume provide valuable glimpses into the lives and experiences of all Georgia women during the first century and a half of the state's existence. Historical figures include: Mary Musgrove Nancy Hart Elizabeth Lichtenstein Johnston Ellen Craft Fanny Kemble Frances Butler Leigh Susie King Taylor Eliza Frances Andrews Amanda America Dickson Mary Ann Harris Gay Rebecca Latimer Felton Mary Latimer McLendon Mildred Lewis Rutherford Nellie Peters Black Lucy Craft Laney Martha Berry Corra Harris Juliette Gordon Low

In this beautiful book, readers will learn about female painters, photographers, composers, sculptors, and performers who have made significant contributions to the history of art. This historical journey starts in antiquity and ends in the twenty-first century. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the historical period, the schools of art that were characteristic of that period, and how the work of women both emerged from and influenced that era. Sidebars and vivid photographs of artists as well as their works add interest and visual appeal.

Brief biographies of women who, despite many barriers, had the courage, talent, and power to create quality works of art.

Historians have long agreed that women—black and white—were instrumental in shaping the civil rights movement. Until recently, though, such claims have not been supported by easily accessed texts of speeches and addresses. With this first-of-its-kind anthology, Davis W. Houck and David E. Dixon present thirty-nine full-text addresses by women who spoke out while the struggle was at its most intense. Beginning with the Brown decision in 1954 and extending through the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the editors chronicle the unique and important rhetorical contributions made by such well-known activists as Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Daisy Bates, Lillian Smith, Mamie Till-Mobley, Lorraine Hansberry, Dorothy Height, and Rosa Parks. They also include speeches from lesser-known but influential leaders such as Della Sullins, Marie Foster, Johnnie Carr, Jane Schutt, and Barbara Posey. Nearly every speech was discovered in local, regional, or national archives, and many are published or transcribed from audiotape here for the first time. Houck and Dixon introduce each speaker and occasion with a headnote highlighting key biographical and background details. The editors also provide a general introduction that places these public addresses in context. Women and the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965 gives voice to stalwarts whose passionate orations were vital to every phase of a movement that changed America.

Comprehensive and riveting, this important volume on women's history surveys the revolutionary changes in the social, economic, and political status of women during the twentieth century. From the battles of suffragists and labor activists such as Carrie Chapman Catt and Rose Schneiderman to the provocative ideas of Betty Friedan, here are the women of vision and courage who fought for equality and freedom. But here too are the unexpected medical and technological discoveries that removed a woman's destiny from the restrictions of biology -- the electric washing machine, anesthesia for childbirth, sulfa drugs to stop post-partum deaths, the birth control pill, and more. This lively and provocative history covers groundbreaking legislation and Supreme Court rulings, yet it doesn't neglect the often conflicting cultural forces -- from Emily Post and Barbie to the founding of the La Leche League and Ellen DeGeneres's sitcom -- that have shaped women's lives in today's world. Book jacket.