Encyclopedia article about Grace Towns Hamilton, the first African American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly and 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 mid-Atlanta continuously for the next eighteen years, becoming known to her peers as "the most effective woman legislator the state has ever had." She attended Atlanta University and Ohio State University. She worked for the Atlanta Urban League.

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Cite as: "Grace Towns Hamilton (1907-1992)," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.

Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.