News from the University of Georgia Press: Women's Studies

Showing posts with label Women's Studies. Show all posts

Thursday, November 20, 2014

GEORGIA WOMEN shine at Spotlight on the Arts at UGA

Spotlight on the Arts at UGA was an incredible success, and the Press is proud to have been a contributing entity. Our event with authors Dr. Ann Short Chirhart and UGA's own Kathleen Ann Clark was held this past Tuesday in the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library on the UGA Campus.

Chirhart and Clark gave a presentation entitled, "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History: Georgia Women Shape the Twentieth Century," which was launched from their recent anthology, GEORGIA WOMEN: THEIR LIVES AND TIMES, VOL. 2 (published by the Press). Their talk was centered around three Georgia women—two lesser known figures, activists Lugenia Burns Hope and Vara A. Majette, and then one of the most famous women in Georgia history, Margaret Mitchell.

"One challenge we faced [in editing GEORGIA WOMEN] was finding connections between and among these eighteen incredible women," Chirhart said in the opening of the lecture. "Yet we still wanted to remain true to the independent women who had socio-political and cultural influence in many ways."

Dr. Ann Short Chirhart

But through the course of the talk, the interweaving strands became evident. The stories of these eighteen women have often been marginalized, dismissed, or misunderstood in the context of Georgia history. Some of these women viewed the past and the traditions of their time as something to overcome, yet others respected the past, despite its tumultuous nature, and wanted to simultaneously preserve it and challenge the status quo.

Perhaps most importantly, despite being trailblazers in their own times, these women set the stage for future actions. Lugenia Burns Hope's philosophy drew heavily on the Christian tradition, rejected exclusionary racial boundaries, and urged those to "love they neighbor as thyself." Almost half a century later, Coretta Scott King would be greatly inspired by Hope's actions and use her tenants to guide her own activism.

Vara A. Majette was largely critical of the media. She was skeptical of white men's claims that they had a moral duty to protect white women by any means necessary, and she blamed newspapers for fueling the fire of racial tensions in the South after the 1906 Atlanta race riots. Through her work, Majette was devoted to "turning racialized ideologies on their heads."

Dr. Kathleen Ann Clark

Finally, though most notable for writing Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell was actually quite full of gumption. She was the daughter of a suffragette and largely believed in public activism, paid work for women, gender bending, and even delaying or indefinitely postponing marriage. It is in Mitchell's lost adolescent novella, Lost Laysen (her only published work other than Gone with the Wind), that a teenage Mitchell explores pushing the boundaries of racial and gender norms.

Many thanks again to Dr. Ann Short Chirhart and Dr. Kathleen Ann Clark for joining us in Athens for our celebration of the arts, as well as providing us with a thoughtful and engaging talk. Though the week of Spotlight on the Arts at UGA has passed, these kinds of performances and events thrive in Athens year-round. The next on-campus Press event will take place on February 27, 2015, as part of a lecture series for the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and will feature John T. Edge, Director of the Southern Foodways Alliance and general editor of the SFA Studies in Culture, People, and Place series published with the Press. We look forward to seeing you then!

Dr. Kathleen Ann Clark, Dr. Ann Short Chirhart, and Press Director Lisa Bayer at the GEORGIA WOMEN, VOL. 2 event

Friday, October 24, 2014

Event for Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, Vol. 2

Through history, southern women have often been more than the demure belles and sweet Georgia peaches that many frequently think - and the editors of a new volume about women's roles in Georgia history will speak about these dynamic trailblazers on Nov. 11 at the University of Georgia Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library.

The talk, "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History: Georgia Women Shape the Twentieth-Century" will feature Kathleen Ann Clark, an associate history professor at the University of Georgia, and Ann Short Chirhart, associate history professor at Indiana State University. The professors will discuss their collection, GEORGIA WOMEN: THEIR LIVES AND TIMES, VOL. 2 at 3 p.m. in Room 285 of the Russell Special Collections Building. This event is free and open to the public.

GEORGIA WOMEN, VOL. 2 delves into the vital roles women played in twentieth-century Georgia, further detailing the contributions of commonly known women such as Coretta Scott King and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, as well as highlighting lesser-known figures such as World War II aviator Hazel Raines and carpet entrepreneur Catherine Evans Whitener. The comprehensive collection of essays, published by the Press, is part of the Southern Women: Their Lives and Times series, which focuses on the lives of individuals that address larger issues and gender roles in the histories of various southern states and the nation.

"Women were leading actors in the 20th-century developments in Georgia, yet most histories minimize their contributions," said Lisa Bayer, director of the Press. "Collectively, the life stories portrayed in this volume deepen our understanding of the multifaceted history of not only Georgia women but also the state itself."

Further praise for GEORGIA WOMEN, VOL. 2 comes from Dr. Rebecca Sharpless, history professor at Texas Christian University and author of Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865-1960, who commends, "An amazing group of women shine forth in this collection of essays. They represent the best of Georgia in the twentieth century, from the farm to the city; in the classrooms, the arts, and the halls of law; and on the streets fighting for justice. Georgia women have brought significant vitality and change to their home state, and their stories come together brilliantly in this volume."

A reception will follow the talk, and copies of both volumes of GEORGIA WOMEN will be available for purchase. Parking is available at the Hull Street Deck and at the Tate Center Deck, or access is available via free public transportation through UGA Campus Transit.

This event is part of the UGA Spotlight on the Arts festival and is co-sponsored by the UGA Libraries and UGA Press. For more information, contact Amanda Sharp at asharp@uga.edu or at 706-542-4145.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Celebrating Women's History Month 2014

March is Women's History Month, and people and organizations across the country are finding interesting ways to celebrate this year's theme, "Celebrating Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment." For example, The Huffington Post featured an article entitled "Celebrating Women's History Month -- On Mars," which recounts the advances made by female scientists on the study of Mars. As for events, The Times and Democrat reports that The South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina is hosting a virtual exhibit of art by Addie Sim, a South Carolina Civil War-era artist. The exhibit entitled "The Art and Life of Addie Sims: A Look into Her World" opened on March 15, 2014. These are just a few of the exciting happenings so far, and there are still more to come. To learn more about Women's History Month and other organized celebrations, check out the official website here.

In celebration of Women's History Month, we at the UGA Press would like to highlight new and forthcoming additions to the University of Georgia Press series Southern Women: Their Lives and Times:

NORTH CAROLINA WOMEN: THEIR LIVES AND TIMES, edited by Michele Gillespie and Sally G. McMillen, highlights North Carolina’s progressive streak and its positive impact on women’s education—for white and black alike—beginning in the antebellum period on through new opportunities that opened up in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They explore the ways industrialization drew large numbers of women into the paid labor force for the first time and what the implications of this tremendous transition were; they also examine the women who challenged traditional gender roles, as political leaders and labor organizers, as runaways, and as widows. The volume is especially attuned to differences in region within North Carolina, delineating women’s experiences in the eastern third of the state, the piedmont, and the western mountains. It became available on February 15, 2014.

GEORGIA WOMEN: THEIR LIVES AND TIMES—VOLUME 2, edited by Ann Short Chirhart and Kathleen Ann Clark, discusses Georgia women who were instrumental to state and national politics even before they achieved suffrage, and as essays on Lillian Smith, Frances Pauley, Coretta Scott King, and others demonstrate, they played a key role in twentieth-century struggles over civil rights, gender equality, and the proper size and reach of government. While many of the volume’s essays take a fresh look at relatively well-known figures, readers will also have the opportunity to discover women who were vital to Georgia’s history yet remain relatively obscure today. Collectively, the life stories portrayed in this volume deepen our understanding of the multifaceted history of not only Georgia women but also the state itself. Mark your calendars for this book's publication on July 1, 2014.

As a collection, Southern Women: Their Lives and Times seeks to highlight the histories of women from the various southern states. Each book is a collection of insightful essays focused on the lives of individuals or small groups of women that address larger issues in the history of the state, the South, and the nation. These individual profiles will also contribute to an understanding of the history of women and gender roles in American society. For a list of the works in this collection, click here.

Lastly, check out the article by Babble.com, "Women’s History Month: 5 Ways to Celebrate the Women In Your Family with Your Kids," for inspiration on how to celebrate the women in your history, life, and family.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Black History Month Picks

Be sure to check out these Press titles to help commemorate Black History Month:

Fall '12 and Spring '13 titles:

TURN ME LOOSE: THE UNGHOSTING OF MEDGAR EVERS

By Frank X Walker

Having labored in the world of the arts and in particular in the vineyards of poetry over the last fifty years, I am seldom surprised, moved or excited about the many voices-new and experienced-who occupy our rather fragile and inclusive world. Frank X Walker is an exception. His unusually perceptive and original voice commands a seat at the table. That which separates most poets is their use of language and their ability to creatively keep us reading and listening to their concept of the world we all love, live, and fight in. Read this poet."
—Haki R. Madhubuti, author of Honoring Genius: Gwendolyn Brooks—The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness, and Justice

REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS: WRITING THE LONG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
By Minrose Gwin

"This is a book that should be widely read, shared with others, and placed in a spot of honor in every library. It tells important and all too often forgotten stories of the times with clarity and passion. It is a treasure."
—Myrlie Evers-Williams

EUDORA WELTY, WHITENESS AND RACE

Edited by Harriet Pollack

"The jury is no longer out. After decades of scholarly debate about where Eudora Welty stands on race, the twelve contributors to this superb collection have finally settled the matter. By focusing on Welty's oblique style and technical intricacy, they convincingly illuminate how race, the color line, and white blindness function in her photography and her fiction."
—Suzanne W. Jones, author of Race Mixing: Southern Fiction since the Sixties

BLACK, WHITE AND GREEN: FARMERS MARKETS, RACE AND THE GREEN ECONOMY
By Alison Hope Alkon