Given all that money and status could buy, these women weren’t satisfied with the status quo. Using the education their money afforded them, they went on to provide for society’s less fortunate.
But this isn’t true of all women; some came from slavery and others saved wages from the few jobs available to women in their quest to make Georgia a better place for everyone. Success truly comes from everyone working together as one.
Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927)
Low found herself in an unhappy marriage to a wealthy English man. Disillusioned by what it all, Low began looking for her place in the world. She met Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts in England. She loved the values he was instilling in the boys of self-discipline and personal honor. Sadly, Powell didn’t provide the same attention to girls. He, like others, just didn’t see girls having a need for living outdoors or being leaders. A woman’s place was in the home.
Low took the idea home with her and began the Girl Scouts of American with her own money and 18 girls. According to Georgia Women of Achievement, the girls participated in physical fitness, the basics of independent living, service to others, and preparation not only for home and family, but careers as well.
Laura Askew Haygood (1845-1900)
A teacher, Haygood started her own school in Atlanta shortly after receiving her college degree. She also organized outreach programs from her home to provide food and shelter to the poor, including providing training so they could get jobs.
Asked by her church to become a missionary, Haygood went to China as the first female ever sent into foreign missionary work. She made the most of her opportunity by opening McTyeire Home and School in Shanghai. She believed strongly in the education of women, something most Chinese were against. She taught many of China’s most influential women of the early 20th century.
Carrie Steele Logan (1829-1900)
Logan, saving money earned from her job with the Central Railroad, became one of the first African American women to own land in Atlanta. Orphaned as a child, Logan had a special place in her heart for orphaned children she would see abandoned around Atlanta. She began taking them home with her in the evenings so they could sleep in a comfortable bed and have a warm meal. Eventually, there were simply too many of them in her modest home.
Logan had learned to read and write as a young slave, and she used those skills now to write her autobiography. She sold it on the street to earn money to buy a larger building for her children. She sold her home, received donations from the community, and built the Carrie Steele Orphans’ Home. Not only did the children have a roof over their heads, but Logan made sure they were educated and taught skills they would need for jobs. The home is still serving abused and orphaned children in Atlanta.
Sara Branham Matthews (1888-1962)
This teacher, who earned a second bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and biology (when most women were lucky if they had one), discovered a treatment for spinal meningitis. She was the first to isolate the meningococcus and to try a new family of drugs, Sulfanilamides in the cure. She managed to cure a disease the medical community of the day believed was incurable.
Alice Woodby McKane (1865-19458)
In 1892 Georgia, McKane was the only African American, female physician. She married soon after graduating and, together with her husband, developed the first training school for nurses. She didn’t stop there – when she was appointed as medical examiner for African American Civil War veterans in Monrovia, Liberia, she and her husband opened Monrovia’s first hospital. After returning home to the U.S., McKane started her own practice, specializing in women’s health.
For More Information on Women’s History
Important Women in Colorado History
