Rebecca Latimer Felton
American politician
Died when: 94 years 228 days (1135 months)Star Sign: Gemini
Rebecca Ann Felton (née Latimer;June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was an American writer, lecturer, feminist, suffragist, reformer, slave owner, and politician who was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate, although she served for only one day.
Felton was the most prominent woman in Georgia in the Progressive Era, and was honored by appointment to the Senate.
She was sworn in on November 21, 1922, and served just 24 hours.At 87 years, nine months, and 22 days old, she was the oldest freshman senator to enter the Senate.
She was the only woman to have served as a senator from Georgia until the appointment of Kelly Loeffler in 2020, nearly a hundred years later.
Her husband William Harrell Felton was a member of the United States House of Representatives and Georgia House of Representatives and she ran his campaigns.
She was a prominent society woman; an advocate of prison reform, women's suffrage and educational modernization.Numan Bartley wrote that by 1915 she "was championing a lengthy feminist program that ranged from prohibition to equal pay for equal work." She was also a white supremacist and Congress's last former slave owner, and spoke vigorously in favor of lynching.
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