Ranging from Georgia's founding in the 1730s until the American Revolution in the 1770s, Georgia's Frontier Women explores women's changing roles amid the developing demographic, economic, and social circumstances of the colony's settling. Georgia was launched as a unique experiment on the borderlands of the British Atlantic world. Its female population was far more diverse than any in nearby colonies at comparable times in their formation. Ben Marsh tells a complex story of narrowing opportunities for Georgia's women as the colony evolved from uncertainty toward stability in the face of sporadic warfare, changes in government, land speculation, and the arrival of slaves and immigrants in growing numbers. Marsh looks at the experiences of white, black, and Native American women-old and young, married and single, working in and out of the home. Mary Musgrove, who played a crucial role in mediating colonist-Creek relations, and Marie Camuse, a leading figure in Georgia's early silk industry, are among the figures whose life stories Marsh draws on to illustrate how some frontier women broke down economic barriers and wielded authority in exceptional ways. Marsh also looks at how basic assumptions about courtship, marriage, and family varied over time. To early settlers, for example, the search for stability could take them across race, class, or community lines in search of a suitable partner. This would change as emerging elites enforced the regulation of traditional social norms and as white relationships with blacks and Native Americans became more exploitive and adversarial. Many of the qualities that earlier had distinguished Georgia from other southern colonies faded away.

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

Introduces the life of the painter whose fame came to rest with her large works from nature.

How the Cold War era changed the trajectory of women's gymnastics Electrifying athletes like Olga Korbut and Nadia Comăneci helped make women’s artistic gymnastics one of the most popular events in the Olympic Games. But the transition of gymnastics from a women’s sport to a girl’s sport in the 1970s also laid the foundation for a system of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of gymnasts around the world. Georgia Cervin offers a unique history of women's gymnastics, examining how the high-stakes diplomatic rivalry of the Cold War created a breeding ground for exploitation. Yet, a surprising spirit of international collaboration arose to decide the social values and image of femininity demonstrated by the sport. Cervin also charts the changes in style, equipment, training, and participants that transformed the sport, as explosive athleticism replaced balletic grace and gymnastics dominance shifted from East to West. Sweeping and revelatory, Degrees of Difficulty tells a story of international friction, unexpected cooperation, and the legacy of abuse and betrayal created by the win-at-all-cost attitudes of the Cold War.

Georgia's Remarkable Women: Daughters, Wives, Sisters, and Mothers Who Shaped History recognizes the women who helped to shape the Peach State. Female teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, and artists from across the state are illuminated through short biographies and archival photographs and paintings. Setting their own standards and following their passions, they continue to inspire new generations with their achievements. Meet Rebecca Latimer Felton, the first woman to sit as a U.S. senator; Juliette Gordon Low, the resilient founder of the Girl Scouts; Sarah Freeman Clarke, a painter who dared to pursue art and literature as a career; Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, the "Mother of the Blues," whose voice transcended race and class; and Margaret Mitchell, author of the enduring tale of survival, Gone with the Wind.

Women were leading actors in twentieth-century developments in Georgia, yet most histories minimize their contributions. The essays in the second volume of Georgia Women, edited by Ann Short Chirhart and Kathleen Ann Clark, vividly portray a wide array of Georgia women who played an important role in the state's history, from little-known Progressive Era activists to famous present-day figures such as Pulitzer Prize--winning author Alice Walker and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Georgia women were instrumental to state and national politics even before they achieved suffrage, and as essays on Lillian Smith, Frances Pauley, Coretta Scott King, and others demonstrate, they played a key role in twentieth-century struggles over civil rights, gender equality, and the proper size and reach of government. Georgia women's contributions have been wide ranging in the arena of arts and culture and include the works of renowned blues singer Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and such nationally prominent literary figures as Margaret Mitchell, Carson McCullers, and Flannery O'Connor, as well as Walker. While many of the volume's essays take a fresh look at relatively well-known figures, readers will also have the opportunity to discover women who were vital to Georgia's history yet remain relatively obscure today, such as Atlanta educator and activist Lugenia Burns Hope, World War II aviator Hazel Raines, entrepreneur and carpet manufacturer Catherine Evans Whitener, and rural activist and author Vara A. Majette. Collectively, the life stories portrayed in this volume deepen our understanding of the multifaceted history of not only Georgia women but also the state itself. Published with the generous support of the Honorable Dr. M. Louise McBee.

These are the people who hauled Georgia up from its poor, agrarian roots, making it among the most diversified, prosperous states in the country. They fought for freedom and served in the statehouse and White House. They excelled at sports, founded institutions that shaped countless lives and inspired through art and lives lived artfully. They are famous, obscure, colorful, outrageous and saintly, all with fascinating stories and all consequential, sometimes in ways felt the world over. They include Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, Ted Turner, Alice Walker, Juliette Gordon Low, "Hammerin' Hank" Aaron and Vince Dooley. Many here are no-brainers, while others may surprise. But all deserve recognition among the most influential Georgians of the twentieth century. Join author and longtime journalist Neely Young on this journey through the lives of these significant men and women.