Georgia Association of Historians meet, celebrate women

When the Georgia Association of Historians convene for their annual meeting on Thursday, the occasion will also celebrate Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times (UGA Press). The two volume work reaches deep back into Georgia history to tell the stories of women who played vital roles in the state. The scope ranges from accounts of women during the American Revolution to blues singers in the Great Depression.

Volume editors Ann Short Chirhart, Betty Wood, and Kathleen Clark will be on hand during the event. Wake Forest professor Michele Gillespie will discuss Mary Gay, author of the civil war account Life in Dixie During the War. Margaret Mitchell is said to have drawn on the stories in Gay’s book for Gone With The Wind. University of West Georgia professor Steve Goodson will discuss Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, legendary blues singer. Aside from her resonant, Bessie Smith-like voice, Rainey had a way with salty couplets like “Chains on my feet, padlock on my hand / It’s all on account of stealing a woman’s man” or “My life is all a misery when I cannot get my booze / I spend every dime on liquor, got to have the booze to go with these blues.”

Georgia Association of Historians meet on Thurs., Feb. 18 at 7:15 P.M. at the Decatur Library Auditorium.