Description

Photograph of Grace Towns Hamilton seated at a desk with Atlanta Urban League (AUL) staff in 1951. Three men and two women stand on either side of her. Hamilton faces forward and smiles. Hamilton was appointed executive director of the AUL in 1943, becoming one of the earliest women to hold such a post.The first African American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly, Hamilton was also the first female of her race in the Deep South to hold a public office of such consequence. She was among eight African Americans sent to the state legislature in a special election in June 1965; they were the first to enter the lower house since the end of Reconstruction. Hamilton was defeated in her bid for reelection to her legislative post in September 1984 by Mable Thomas, a woman one-third her age. Hamilton held only one other public post, as advisor to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission from January 1985 to January 1987.

Record Contributed By

New Georgia Encyclopedia

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia