Happy Birthday, Rebecca Latimer Felton!

Rebecca Latimer Felton was born on this day in 1835. She became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate on November 21, 1922; however, she started her political career behind the scenes. Her husband, William Felton, served in Georgia’s 7th congressional district. Rebecca Felton served as his campaign manager and also refined her husband’s speeches and wrote several articles on his behalf. The couple purchased a Cartersville newspaper, which she ran and used to promote her husband.

After her husband’s retirement, she used her speeches and writing to advocate against the convict lease system, a system which allowed private companies to use convicts for cheap labor, and woman suffrage. She became the South’s best known and most effective advocate of woman suffrage; and prompted Corra Harris to write a book entitled The Co-Citizens, which features a protagonist who is loosely based on Felton.

In 1899, Felton began writing “The County Home” for the Atlanta Journal. She wrote the edition for over two decades. In 1922, Governor Thomas Hardwick appointed Felton to the U.S. Senate after the death of Senator Thomas E. Watson; she was eighty-seven years old. She was appointed temporarily until the special election could be held, thus she only served for twenty-four hours.

Image of Rebecca Latimer Felton is from the New Georgia Encyclopedia.