My Atlanta Project is on the Women's Club Movement. In class we read in Chapter 19 about women's clubs founded in the late 1800s. Jane Croly founded Sorosis in New York in 1868, and started a movement that spread across the nation. Women's clubs gave professional women a chance to join together and participate in civil reform, politics, and other issues. In the South, black women began to form organizations and even participate in some clubs founded by whites, such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (Liberty, Equality, Power, 576).
In my research about women's clubs and Atlanta, the most interesting website has been that of the Atlanta Women's Club. This club was formed on November 11, 1895, and is located in Wimbish Mansion, located on the famous Peachtree Street. It is a national, state, and historical landmark. The Atlanta Women's Club states that its mission is to improve the "local community" and quotes Rebecca Lowe, president of the club from 1896-1897, as saying that they are privileged women "with superior intellect" and "graceful tact" who should give back to their community. The fact that this club is still thriving, along with many other clubs in Georgia, shows that Atlanta, for one, though very urbanized, has not let go of its historical past (www.atlwc.org).
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