Georgia Women of Achievement
The Georgia Women of Achievement recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Georgia for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The concept was first proposed by Rosalynn Carter in 1988. The first induction was in 1992 at Wesleyan College, and has continued annually. The induction ceremonies are held each year during March, designated as Women's History Month. The organization consists of a Board of Trustees and a Board of Selections. Nominees must have been dead no less than ten years. Georgians, or those associated with Georgia, are selected based on the individual's impact on society. Nominations are proposed through documentation and an online nomination form, and must be submitted prior to October of any given year. GWA has traveling exhibits and speakers available upon request.
Inductees
Name | Image | Birth–Death | Year | Area of achievement | |
2020 | Educator | ||||
2020 | Author and educator | ||||
2020 | One of the first women judges in Georgia | ||||
2020 | Land conservation and environmentalism | ||||
2019 | Pioneering pediatrician, supercentenarian | ||||
2019 | First female graduate from the University of Georgia in 1914 | ||||
2018 | First African-American registered nurse in Georgia. Founder of the Grady Municipal Training School of Colored Nurses | ||||
2018 | Nurse and educator, first African-American Army nurse, wrote and self-published a memoir of her Civil War experiences. | ||||
2018 | First African-American woman on the National Committee of the Republican Party. First woman to speak from the floor at the National Republican Convention. | ||||
2017 | First woman photojournalist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution | ||||
2017 | One of Georgia's first female landscape architects | ||||
2017 | First library head for the state of Georgia | ||||
2016 | Founder of a traveling library system | ||||
2016 | Architect | ||||
2016 | Midwife | ||||
2015 | Worked to preserve government records and photographs; established the Georgia Archives Institute for professional development; helped create the Southeast Archives and Records Conference; Faithful Service Award 1971 from Gov. Jimmy Carter, Outstanding Achievement Award from the Georgia Trust in 1997 and 2000, Brenau University Alumni Hall of Fame 2002 | ||||
2015 | League of Women Voters; President of the DeKalb League; Georgia League President; Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Human Relations; activist with the Office of Civil Rights who worked to implement the Civil Rights Act of 1964 | ||||
2015 | American Red Cross; volunteer; first female member of the Emory Hospital Administration Committee; Eisenhower appointee to attend the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland; created the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing | ||||
2014 | First president of the Savannah chapter of the National Association of Colored Women | ||||
2014 | Memoirist | ||||
2014 | Atlanta's first Supervisor of Negro Schools | ||||
2013 | Caterer, journalist, author of Southern Cooking | ||||
2013 | Founder and first President of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation | ||||
2013 | Writer | ||||
2012 | Educator who organized the YWCA-sponsored Girl Reserves for African-American girls | ||||
2012 | Founder of the Ethel Harpst Home for children | ||||
2012 | Educator | ||||
2011 | Mother of President Jimmy Carter; Peace Corps worker; nurse; businesswoman | ||||
2011 | Midwife, subject of All My Babies | ||||
2011 | Health care | ||||
2010 | Educator | ||||
2010 | Journalist | ||||
2010 | First female president of the National Association of Bar Executives | ||||
2009 | Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1934 for her first novel, Lamb in His Bosom, the first Georgian to win the Pulitzer for Fiction. | ||||
2009 | Quilt maker, creator of the Bible Quilt now in the possession of the National Museum of American History | ||||
2009 | Environmentalist, conservationist | ||||
2008 | Author, poet | ||||
2008 | Publisher; first woman to hold elected office in Habersham County | ||||
2008 | Journalist, technical advisor for Gone with the Wind movie | ||||
2007 | Educator | ||||
2007 | Librarian, writer, historian | ||||
2007 | First woman elected to the United States Congress from Georgia | ||||
2007 | Scientist who discovered a treatment for spinal meningitis | ||||
2006 | Botanist | ||||
2006 | First African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly | ||||
2006 | First woman editor and printer in Georgia | ||||
2005 | First female doctor in Savannah | ||||
2005 | Educator | ||||
2005 | First woman elected to the United States House of Representatives | ||||
2004 | Former slave, Georgia's first African-American Catholic nun | ||||
2004 | Historian, director Georgia Department of Archives and History | ||||
2004 | Social activist | ||||
2004 | Children's activist | ||||
2004 | Journalist | ||||
2003 | Historic preservationist who helped save the old courthouse in Dahlonega, Georgia, now the Dahlonega Gold Museum Historic Site | ||||
2003 | Missionary, educator | ||||
2003 | Landscape architect | ||||
2003 | Georgia's first registered female architect | ||||
2002 | Librarian | ||||
2002 | Educator, missionary, philanthropist | ||||
2002 | Georgia's first woman mayor | ||||
2001 | Educator | ||||
2001 | Revived the textile art of tufting into a profitable business | ||||
2000 | Educator | ||||
2000 | Educator, missionary | ||||
2000 | First Lady of the United States, first wife of President Woodrow Wilson | ||||
1999 | Originated the idea of using poppies to remember the war dead; honored with a United States postage stamp in 1948 | ||||
1999 | Author of Strange Fruit, a 1944 novel about interracial love | ||||
1998 | Philanthropist, on board of directors of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. | ||||
1998 | Journalist, civic leader, editor | ||||
1998 | Social activist | ||||
1998 | Founded Carrie Steele Orphans' Home | ||||
1997 | First woman to serve in the United States Senate; women's rights advocate | ||||
1997 | Author | ||||
1997 | Namesake of Hart County; frontier woman, American patriot, spy for the colonial army during the American War of Independence | ||||
1997 | Civic activist | ||||
1996 | First Lady of Georgia, wife of Governor William Yates Atkinson; proponent of a state-supported college for women | ||||
1996 | Women's issues organizer and activist | ||||
1996 | Escaped slave, educator | ||||
1996 | Author | ||||
1996 | Social reformer | ||||
1995 | Founder of first African-American PTA | ||||
1995 | Historic preservationist | ||||
1995 | First woman in Georgia to earn a pilot's license, stunt pilot, Lieutenant of Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II, flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary, trained Brazilian air students, recalled into active duty to fly in the Korean War, inducted into Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame | ||||
1994 | Journalist, women's rights advocate, educator | ||||
1994 | Author | ||||
1994 | Author of Gone with the Wind | ||||
1994 | Philanthropist | ||||
1994 | Founder of the first public high school for girls in Augusta | ||||
1993 | Philanthropist, businesswoman, campaigned to restore the historic Cherokee Chief Vann House Historic Site | ||||
1993 | Creek Indian woman who served as an interpreter for James Oglethorpe | ||||
1993 | First woman in Georgia to earn a doctor of medicine degree | ||||
1993 | First woman member Georgia House of Representatives, first woman lawyer to argue before Georgia Supreme Court | ||||
1993 | Blues singer | ||||
1992 | Founder of Berry College | ||||
1992 | Educator, hospital administrator | ||||
1992 | Founder of Girl Scouts of the USA | ||||
1992 | Author |