Inspiring woman: Grace Towns Hamilton

The first African American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly, Grace Towns Hamilton was also the first female of her race in the Deep South to hold a public office of such consequence. She was among eight African Americans sent to the state legislature in a special election in June 1965; they were the first to enter the lower house since the end of Reconstruction. Hamilton represented her district in Atlanta continuously for the next eighteen years.

Hamilton, born in Atlanta on February 10, 1907, went on to a career that including teaching and serving as the executive director of the Atlanta Urban League. Under her leadership the Atlanta Urban League chose not to follow the National Urban League's emphasis on employment but instead waged intensive campaigns within the confines of segregation for advances in schooling, health care, housing, and voting rights for African Americans.

In 1965, Hamilton was elected to the Georgia House and served until 1984. She was best known for her tireless work to expand political representation for blacks in city, county, and state government and for her commitment to improve the lives of African Americans and poor Georgians through housing, health care, education, and the creation of jobs. She became known to her peers as "the most effective woman legislator the state has ever had." She was an ally and friend of Speaker Thomas B. Murphy, and the two enjoyed a special relationship “based on mutual respect and shared goals.”

Today, a chair in the political science department at Emory University is named in her honor.