Southern Lit Alliance will host a virtual South Bound lecture with award-winning author Carolyn Curry on Thursday, April 9, 7 p.m. on Facebook Live.
Dr. Curry is the author of Suffer and Grow Strong, a biography of Southern woman and suffragette Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas. DR. Curry will be sharing her story with us just in time for the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote.
Southern Lit Alliance plans to offer more virtual lectures in the future, so keep an eye out for upcoming announcements. The most up-to-date information is on its website here.
About the Book: Suffer and Grow Strong
Suffer and Grow Strong tells the true story of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, a woman who recorded her life before, during, and after the Civil War in a diary kept for 41 years. Having developed a love of learning early in life, she attended the first college for women in America, Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia, and went on to pursue work with the Women's Christian Union and the Suffrage Movement later in her life.
Ms. Thomas's diary records the devastation she experienced as a result of the Civil War including bankruptcy, the death of family, illness, and heart-breaking loss. Through this loss, however, Ms. Thomas claims that she had only "suffered and grown strong" and was able to use her own experiences to shape her work for the well-being of women.
Her life is an amazing story of survival and transformation that speaks to women in our own time.
Dr. Curry's biography of the inspiring Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas earned her the 2015 Georgia Author of the Year award. She holds both an MA and PhD in History from Georgia State University, and has taught at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta and the University of Kentucky. She is the founder and chair of Women Alone together, a non-profit foundation created to meet the needs of women who are alone in our culture.