1820s
Catherine Elizabeth Brewer Benson (24 jan 1822 – 27 feb 1908 | Augusta GA – Macon GA) first US female to earn Bachelor degree, awarded by Wesleyan College (Macon GA)
Mary Ann Harris Gay (18 mar 1828 – 06 nov 1918 | Jones County GA – Decatur GA) poet, author, diarist, memoirist, US Confederate heroine
1830s
Lizzie Rutherford (01 jun 1833 – 31 mar 1873 | Columbus GA – Columbus GA) folk figure, Confederate Memorial Day creator
Rebecca Latimer Felton (10 jun 1835 – 24 jan 1930 | Decatur GA – Atlanta GA) writer, lecturer, political activist, first female US Senator
Mary Houston Allen (16 feb 1839 – 14 may 1927 | Coweta County GA – Shanghai, China) women’s rights / education activist, Methodist Episcopal foreign missionary wife, graduated with high honors from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia
1840s
1850s
Lucy Craft Laney (13 apr 1854 – 23 oct 1933 | Macon GA – Augusta GA) educator, school principal, founded first black kindergarten, children’s school, and nursing school in Augusta
1860s
Laura Singleton Walker (28 feb 1861 – 09 apr 1955 | Milledgeville GA – Waycross GA) author, conservationist, namesake for Laura S. Walker State Park in Waycross GA
Victoria Earle Matthews (27 may 1861 – 10 mar 1907 | Fort Valley GA – New York NY) author, activist, essayist, journalist
Helen Dortch Longstreet (20 apr 1863 – 03 may 1963 | Carnesville GA – Milledgeville GA) postmistress, aka The Fighting Lady, Confederate memorialist, civil rights activist, environmental preservationist
Orelia Key Bell (08 apr 1864 – 02 jun 1959 | Atlanta GA – Pasadena CA) poet, author, Christian Science hymnist, Boston marriage partner, known for writing her poems in gold leaf on china plates
Cora Mae White Harris (17 mar 1869 – 07 feb 1935 | Elbert County GA – Atlanta GA) essayist, columnist, autobiographer
Caroline Love Goodwin O’Day (22 jun 1869 – 04 jan 1943 | Perry GA – Rye NY) politician, school board president, third woman / first NY Democratic Congresswoman, New York State Board of Social Welfare Commissioner
1870s
Selena Sloan Butler (04 jan 1872 – 09 oct 1964 | Thomasville GA – Los Angeles CA) African-American, organized first black women’s Red Cross chapter, founder / first president National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers Association (NCCPT)
Ida Jane Ash (09 apr 1874 – 03 aug 1948 | Atlanta GA – Los Angeles CA) muse, Boston marriage partner of Orelia Key Bell
Lucy May Stanton (22 may 1875 – 19 mar 1931 | Atlanta GA – Athens GA) watercolorist, miniature portrait artist, large-scale landscapes / still life painter
1880s
1890s
Florence Reville Gibbs (04 apr 1890 – 19 aug 1964 | Thomson GA – Jesup GA) Congresswoman, first GA woman in US House of Representatives
Nellie Pratt Russell (24 may 1890 – 13 dec 1979 | Macon GA – Lawrenceville VA) college English professor, original incorporator of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, first US sorority founded by / for African-American college women
Grace Lumpkin (03 mar 1891 – 03 mar 1980 | Milledgeville GA – Columbia SC) feminist, public speaker, proletarian novelist, US communist, later in life anti-Communist Christian convert
Susan Dowdell Myrick (20 feb 1893 – 03 sep 1978 | Milledgeville GA – Macon GA) author, painter, educator, journalist, film consultant, aka The Emily Post of the South
Winona Cargile Alexander (21 jun 1893 – 16 oct 1984 | Columbus GA – Jacksonville FL) founded Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at Howard University, first African-American social worker in New York, first African-American admitted to New York School of Philanthropy (now Columbia University’s School of Social Work)
1900s
Grace Towns Hamilton (10 feb 1907 – 17 jun 1992 | Atlanta GA – Atlanta GA) executive director of Atlanta Urban League, first African-American woman elected to Georgia General Assembly
Janet Bragg Harmon (24 mar 1907 – 11 apr 1993 | Griffin GA – Blue Island IL) aviator, health inspector, nursing home manager, first African-American female commercial pilot
Annie Lou Watters McPheeters (22 feb 1908 – 23 dec 1994 | Rome GA – Atlanta GA) librarian, civil rights activist, Pergamon Press consultant, created Negro History Collection at Auburn Carnegie Library, library desegregation activist / campaigner
1910s
Brownie Mae Humphrey Wise (25 may 1913 – 24 sep 1992 | Buford GA – Kissimmee FL) pioneering saleswoman, developed ‘party plan’ marketing system, vice-president of Tupperware Home Parties
Virginia Bickley Harper (09 jan 1915 – 09 jun 2002 | Dougherty GA – Aiken SC) US Manhattan Project member
Mary Alicia Rhett (01 feb 1915 – 03 jan 2014 | Savannah GA – Charleston SC) illustrator, portrait painter, stage / film actress
Elizabeth Stevenson (13 jun 1919 – 30 jul 1999 | Decatur GA – Decatur GA) author, biographer
1920s
Ruth Hubbard Cousins (21 may 1920 – 11 jan 2007 | Waleska GA – Chattanooga TN) psychologist, Psy Chi executive director, genealogist / oral historian, psychology education leader / advocate
Anne Firor Scott (24 apr 1921 – 05 feb 2018 | Montezuma GA – Chapel Hill NC) author, editor, professor, American historian, specialist in history of women of the South
Cola Franzen (04 feb 1923 – 05 apr 2018 | Hart County GA – Cambridge MA) writer, translator, vice-president of Language Research Inc.
Mary Flannery O’Connor (25 mar 1925 – 03 aug 1964 | Savannah GA – Milledgeville GA) novelist, essayist, short story writer
Margaret Carrick Fairlie-Kennedy (27 mar 1925 – 07 dec 2013 | Atlanta GA – Ithaca NY) anthropological filmmaker, voice / dance / orchestra / mixed media composer
Georgia Bitner (02 apr 1926 – 10 sep 2012 | Atlanta GA – Studio City CA) actress, painter, gardener, children’s activist, aka Hollywood’s Second Banana
Ruth Carter Stapleton (29 may 1929 – 26 sep 1983 | Plains GA – Fayetteville NC) author, Christian evangelist, minister of healing memories, political family member
1930s
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (27 feb 1930 | Thomasville GA) author, actress, producer, philanthropist
Sybil [Anne] Rivers Siddons (09 jan 1936 – 11 sep 2019 | Fairburn GA – Charleston SC) novelist
Mary Frances Early (14 jun 1936 – Atlanta GA) music teacher and professor, supervisor / music coordinator of Atlanta Public Schools, first African-American to earn degree from University of Georgia, first African-American president of Georgia Music Educators Association
Emma Amos (16 mar 1937 – 20 may 2020 | Atlanta GA – Bedford NH) painter, printmaker, fiber / mixed-media artist
Reatha Clark King (11 apr 1938 – Pavo GA) chemist, businesswoman, former vice-president of General Mills, former chair / president / executive director of General Mills Foundation board of trustees
Lane Bradbury (17 jun 1938 – Buckhead GA) writer, actress, founding artistic director of Valkyrie Theater of Dance, Drama, and Film for at-risk teens
Genevieve Madline Knight ((18 jun 1939 – Brunswick GA) African-American mathematician, mathematics educator and professor
1940s
Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson (25 apr 1942 – 09 oct 1967 | Atlanta GA – Atlanta GA) student activist, civil rights activist, SNCC member / organizer
Pat Mitchell (20 jan 1943 – Swainsboro GA) journalist, philanthropist, media executive, documentary film producer, former CEO / President PBS , current CEO / President at The Paley Center for Media
Alice Malsenior Walker (09 feb 1944 – Eatenton GA) poet, author, activist
Lynne Rudder Baker (14 feb 1944 – 24 dec 2017 | Atlanta GA – Amherst MA) author, professor, philosopher
Susan J. Pharr (16 mar 1944 – Atlanta GA) author, political science academic, Japanology specialist / expert
Gladys Knight (28 may 1944 – Atlanta GA) author, memoirist, LDS convert, humanitarian, singer-songwriter, aka Empress of Soul
Janelle Diane Williams Taylor (28 jun 1944 – Athens GA) historical romance novelist
Joyce Dickerson (14 jun 1945 – Savannah GA) author, women’s advocate, South Carolina politician
Paula Deen (19 jan 1947 – Albany GA) cook, author, restaurateur, tv cooking show host
Samaria Mitcham Bailey (29 jun 1947 – Macon GA) pianist, civil rights activist, high school integrator, one of first female African-American students at Mercer University
Brenda Boozer (25 jan 1948 – Atlanta GA) operatic / concert mezzo-soprano
1950s
Lois Hackbert Hart Walker (05 feb 1950 – Atlanta GA) retired journalist, former co-anchor of evening news programs with husband
June Bailey White (31 may 1950 – Thomasville GA) author, radio commentator
Alveda King (22 jan 1951 – Atlanta GA) author, activist, minister, former state politician, political family member, founded Alveda King Ministries
Elisabeth Williams-Omilami (18 feb 1951 – Atlanta GA) writer, pastor, actress, playwright, arts activist
Glenda A. Hatchett (31 may 1951 – Atlanta GA) author, former court show actress
Dawn Gibbons (09 mar 1954 – Atlanta GA) politician, former First Lady of Nevada, radio show host, former owner / operator of two wedding chapels
Shahrazad Ali (27 apr 1954 – Atlanta GA) author, adoptive mother, controversial writer
Cynthia McKinney (17 mar 1955 – Atlanta GA) author, memoirist, politician, civil rights activist, first black woman from Georgia elected to US House of Representatives, Green Party presidential candidate [2008]
Susan Neiman (27 mar 1955 – Atlanta GA) author, essayist, moral philosopher, cultural commentator
Etheleen Renee [E. R.] Shipp (06 jun 1955 – Conyers GA) journalist, columnist
Holly Hunter (20 mar 1958 – Conyers GA) actress, film producer
Jennifer Larmore (21 jun 1958 – Atlanta GA) operatic mezzo-soprano
Laura Lippman (31 jan 1959 – Atlanta GA) former reporter, detective fiction author