Continuing the Conversation sculpture at the Georgia Institute of Technology campus depicts the 42 years old Rosa Parks (her age during the Montgomery bus boycott) sitting in front of the 92 years old Rosa Parks (the year she died); a vacant seat next to them welcomes the passersby to join their conversation. Atlanta sculptor Martin Dawe designed and sculpted the sculpture; Rod and Michelle Adkins funded and unveiled it together with the relatives of Harrison, King, and Parks on April 5th, 2018, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The sculpture stands on Harrison Square, named after Edwin D. Harrison, who was Georgia Tech’s sixth president between 1957 and 1969; Harrison desegregated the institution in 1961 without a court order, making it one the first major integrated university in the Deep South. It is the first statue of a woman on campus and one of the few in Atlanta. Rosa Parks (1913-2005) joined the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and became its secretary in 1943. Parks took the bus home after work on December 1st, 1955. When the white section of the bus became full, the driver asked Parks to move to the back. Parks refused to give up her seat; she was removed from the bus and arrested. The Women’s Political Council, led by Jo Ann Robinson, seized the momentum, gathered the African-American community, and launched the Montgomery bus boycott; Parks became an icon of the civil rights movement. Till her last years, she continued advocating for justice and equality. Read more...

The legacy of the American author Mary Flannery O’Connor, one of Savannah’s celebrities, is celebrated in her childhood home in the old district of Savannah. Mary Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) was born and lived in this house till she was 13 when the family relocated to Milledgeville, Georgia, following her father’s new job; several years later, he passed away from lupus, which claimed her life when she was 39. O’Connor grew up as an only child and requested to be treated as an adult early on. She attended school nearby, had playdates, played with her chickens, and taught them tricks like walking backward (Pathé News even reported about it). As a strong-willed child, she insisted on calling her parents by their first name, wrote remarks inside her books, and attended the adult church mass at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist. O’Connor graduated from Georgia State College for Women in June 1945 with a Social Sciences degree. She then attended the Iowa Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa, graduating with an M.F.A. in 1947. By then, O’Connor had published short stories and worked on her first book, Wise Blood (1952), becoming famous as a Southern Gothic-style writer whose grotesque characters faced violent situations. In 1951, O’Connor was diagnosed with lupus and returned to her mother’s farm, Andalusia, in Milledgeville. She continued writing and publishing short stories and her second novel, The Violent Bear It Away (1960), and taking care of 100 peafowls. She won the O. Henry Award three times and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction for her book Complete Stories in 1972. In 1989 the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Foundation, led by Armstrong State University’s president and professors, bought the house and restored it to its original setting. A few items on display belonged to the O’Connors, including her bedroom furniture, baby stroller, letters she wrote, photographs, childhood books, and rare copies of the books she wrote. The 30-minute guided tour takes visitors around the house and garden, telling the story of a middle-class American family during the Depression and about the life and work of Mary Flannery O’Connor. The museum organizes free public events, including the annual Ursrey Memorial Lecture and the Flannery O’Connor parade in Lafayette Square. The Andalusia Farm: Home of Flannery O’Connor lies three hours from Savannah in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she lived in her final years. Read more...

The Tubman African American Museum celebrates African American culture, heritage, history, and art. The two-story museum was founded in 1981 and relocated to a larger venue in the city’s museum district on May 16, 2015, becoming the largest museum of its kind in the southeast. The founder, Rev. Richard Keil, admired Harriet Tubman’s work and decided to name the museum in her honor. Rev. Keil credited the museum’s establishment to many people; among them are his wife Margaret, high school principal Gloria Washington, Mercer University professor Bobby Jones, contractor and county commissioner Albert Billingslea, and director of the Ruth Hartley Mosley Center Maureen Walker. One of the galleries presents an exhibition about Tubman’s life, from her years as an enslaved person to escaping slavery and becoming a brave conductor on the Underground Railroad known as the Black Moses, a fearless soldier in the Union Army during the civil war and a suffragist and activist till her last years. Also on the museum are permanent and rotating exhibitions of local and international African American artists presenting contemporary and folk art, I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America, Sankofa: A Century of African American Expression in the Decorative Arts, a sculpture gallery and the mural From Africa to America. Other galleries present cultural and historical artifacts relating to African Americans and local and national African American leaders. The museum hosts special programs, art classes, concerts, performances, lectures, and many more. Read more...

The Waving Girl statue honors Florence Martus, who used to wave to the ships entering or leaving the Savanah harbor for 44 years, never missing one. She started waving the ships when she was a girl living with her parents at Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Islandת and continued doing so when she moved in with her brother, a lighthouse-keeper on Elba Island. An isolated island 5 miles up the river from Fort Pulaski. Martus became the sign for the sailors that they arrived safely to the shore, and they waved back at her. The legend was that Martus was waving at the ships since she looked for a sailor she was once in love with. Others believe her greetings gave her life joy and meaning, especially since she lived on an isolated island. The statue was created by Felix de Weldon in 1974. It depicts Martus as a girl, waving with her Handkerchief. Among Weldon’s famous statues is Mother Joseph, one of the statues in the Statuary Hall collection, in the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Join this guided tour to explore Savanna and learn more about its pioneer women: Historic Women of Savannah Tour Read more...

Coretta Scott King founded The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in her basement in 1968, a few months after the assassination of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Her mission was to commemorate his legacy and continue his vision and mission of establishing a living memorial with public programs that promote their ideas and goals for a nonviolent and equal society. In 1981, the center moved to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, which includes Dr. King’s birth home, the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he preached from 1960 until his death, his gravesite, and a reflecting pool. Coretta Scott King’s grave is next to his since 2006. The CEO and the president of the center is the kings’ youngest daughter, Bernice King, who continues to carry the torch of peace and justice. The center offers lectures, youth leadership camps, Nonviolence365 Orientation, an annual gala, and more. Read more...

A memorial that commemorates the thousands of Asian women and girls who were sex slaves of the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II. They were called “Comfort Women,” kidnapped from their countries, mostly Korea, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines; some were never able to go back home. The memorial aims to raise awareness of sexual and human trafficking still happening in our world. The one-ton bronze statue is depicting a seated Asian girl next to an empty chair surrounded by a butterfly-shaped garden. It was created by the couple Kim Woon-Sung and Kim Seo-Kyung, who sculpted 20 similar statues commemorating Comfort Women all over the world. It is the first kind of a statue in the deep south. Originally, it was supposed to stand near the Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta but was relocated to Brookhaven, a city in Atlanta’s metro area, due to Japanese pressure. It was dedicated on June 30th, 2017, in Blackburn II Park, but moved shortly after the dedication to Blackburn Park, a larger and more accessible location. Among the 300 people who attended the unveiling ceremony was a guest of honor from Korea – Chul Kang, a survivor of the “Comfort Women” era. There are nine other memorials in the US and several more all over the world, to remember these women, and to not let their suffering be eliminated from the history pages.   Read more...

The Mary Latimer McLendon Memorial Fountain is located in an honorable location in the south wing on the main floor of Georgia’s State Capitol since 1923. It was given by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to commemorate the organization and their leader Mary Latimer McLendon, who passed away two years before. McLendon, also known as “Mother of Suffrage in Georgia,” served as the president of the Georgia Women’s Suffrage Association (GWSA) for 18 years and was one of the leaders of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She worked all her life for these causes and was able to witness the changes happening before her death in 1921: In 1919, the 18th amendment was ratified prohibition on the sale and production of alcohol across the country. In 1920 the 19th amendment was ratified, giving the women their right to vote. Georgia was the first state to reject the ratification of the 19th and only ratified it on February 20th, 1970. McLendon worked till her death to ensure the women of Georgia got their voting rights, but she was never able to vote herself. Read more...

One Woman Rising statue was created to commemorate “One Billion Rising,” a movement and a campaign to end violence against women and girls. The 12-foot-tall statue is depicting a dancing female figure as if visualizing the One Billion Rising movement’s motto – “Strike, Dance, Rise!” It was sculptured by Phil Proctor, and painted by the body painters Scott Fray and Madelyn Greco. A metal railing around the statue is inviting the visitors to interact by writing their stories of empowerment and reasons to rise on the provided ribbons attaching them to the metal rail. The statue was commissioned by the Chelko Foundation, which “seeks to empower women through art, education, and partnership.” The foundation was established in 2005 to commemorate and honor the life of Debbie Chelko. The One Billion Rising is a campaign demanding to end violence against womxn. Every year on February 14th, people are gathering all over the world for this cause – “RISING: FROM A CAMPAIGN, TO A WAY OF LIFE.” The movement was founded by the activist and playwright Eve Ensler, who is also famous for her playwright “The Vagina Monologues.” In the official dedication ceremony on February 12th, 2015, Ensler was the guest of honor. The statue is located in Freedom Park, a linear green park and an art park showcasing permanent and rotation exterior exhibitions. Not far from One Woman Rising statue is the artwork Journey to Freedom: Women of the Civil Rights, a set of two murals created by Lynn Linnemeier. Read more...

Two murals on Freedom Park commemorate the voices of the women of the civil rights movement, highlighting the female’s past and present contribution. Original photographs by Dr. Doris A. Derby, Shelia Turner, and Susan Ross are combined in a quilt-style design artwork created by the artist Lynn Marshall Linnemeier, who had to use a special technique to install the photographs so they will not deteriorate over time. Each of the murals revolves around a theme. One, around the themes of kindness, love, and respect; the other focuses on civil rights such as voting rights and religious freedom. Among the women who are displayed on the murals are Dorothy Height, Nikki Giovanni, Jean Childs Young, Kathleen Cleaver, Constance Curry, and more. “Journey to Freedom” was dedicated on February 25th, 2017, in a special ceremony with the participation of the civil rights activists Doris Derby, Kathleen Cleaver, and Constance Curry. Freedom Park is a linear green park, one of the largest in Atlanta. It is also an Art Park, showcasing permanent and rotating exhibits. Another installation honoring women in the park is “One Woman Rising.” Two other artworks that are #MadeByWomen are – “The New Endings,” honoring Andrew Young by Diane Solomon Kempler, and “Tree of Life” by Yvonne Domenge. Read more...

A historic house museum celebrates the life and achievements of Margaret Mitchell, the author of the famous novel Gone with the Wind, which got her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Mitchell lived in apartment #1 from 1925 to 1932. As a former reporter of the Atlanta Journal recovering from an ankle injury, she started writing a Civil War-era novel. Although she did not intend to publish it, when she did so in 1936, it immediately became a best seller. In 1937 the movie version was released and is still considered as one of the best movies of all time. The museum offers several permanent exhibitions. On the first floor where she lived, there is an exhibit about her life with interesting details about how she wrote the book. Other exhibits are about making the movie and its world premiere in Atlanta. Expect to find some interesting details about things that happened behind the scenes, as well as seeing a film capturing the moment Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar for her role in the movie. She was the first African American to win the Academy Awards prize. Learn all about Margaret Mitchell in a private guided tour in Atlanta: 3 Hour Private Gone With the Wind Tour of Margaret Mitchell’s Atlanta. Read more...