Mrs. Felton

Born in 1835, Rebecca Latimer Felton was a Georgia writer, newspaper columnist, and public speaker whose long career reached into politics as well as literature. She published essays, commentary, and memoirs, often writing about education, religion, rural life, and public affairs in the American South.

Felton is especially known for her memoir Country Life in Georgia in the Days of My Youth and for the forceful, opinionated voice she brought to public life. She also became a historic political figure when she was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1922, making her the first woman to hold that office, though only briefly.

Her legacy is complicated. She was influential and widely read, but some of her public positions—especially her racist rhetoric—are deeply troubling and remain an important part of how her life is understood today. She died in 1930, leaving behind writing that is still read both for its firsthand historical detail and for what it reveals about the contradictions of its time.