Felton, Rebecca Latimer, 1835-1930

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1835-06-10
Death 1930-01-24
Gender:
Female
Americans
English

Biographical notes:

Rebecca Ann Latimer Felton (June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was an American writer, lecturer, reformer, and politician who became the first woman to serve in the US Senate, although she served for only one day. She was the most prominent woman in Georgia in the Progressive Era, and was honored by appointment to the Senate. She was sworn in November 21, 1922, and served just 24 hours. At 87 years, nine months, and 22 days old, she was the oldest freshman senator to enter the Senate. She was the only woman to have served as a Senator from Georgia until January 6, 2020, when Kelly Loeffler was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp to the seat vacated by the retirement of Sen. Johnny Isakson at the end of 2019. Her husband William Harrell Felton was a member of the United States House of Representatives and Georgia House of Representatives and she ran his campaigns. She was a prominent society woman; an advocate of prison reform, women's suffrage and educational modernization; a white supremacist and slave owner; and a woman who spoke vigorously in favor of lynching. Numan Bartley wrote that by 1915 she "was championing a lengthy feminist program that ranged from prohibition to equal pay for equal work."

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Subjects:

  • Convict labor
  • Temperance
  • Women
  • Women in the Methodist Church
  • Women journalists
  • Women legislators
  • Women social reformers
  • Women's rights

Occupations:

  • Teachers
  • Lecturers
  • Politicians
  • Reformers
  • Secretaries (clerical workers)
  • Senators, U.S. Congress
  • Slaveholders
  • Suffragists
  • Writer

Places:

  • Decatur, GA, US
  • Bartow County, GA, US
  • Cartersville, GA, US
  • Atlanta, GA, US
  • Madison, GA, US

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