- Collection:
- Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives
- Title:
- Ackerman talks about organizing in Cobb County (2:20)
- Creator:
- Ackerman, Virginia MacMahon, 1939-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Ball, Martha Charlene, 1943-
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 1998-06-17
- Subject:
- Feminism
Social movements
Women's studies - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Cobb County, 33.94147, -84.57667
- Medium:
- audiocassettes
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Virginia "Ginger" MacMahon Ackerman was born in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1939. She earned a bachelor's degree in business from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia and was a stockbroker with Dean Witter Reynolds in Atlanta for seven years. She also worked as a director of marketing for Mainstream Access, Inc. in Atlanta for two years. Ackerman first became involved in the ERA Georgia campaign by simply looking up the organization's number in the phonebook. She began her volunteerism by stuffing envelopes, filing and answering phones, but soon was asked to help organize the women in Cobb County. As a result of her efforts, the Cobb Coalition for the ERA was formed, affiliating with a number of different organizations including local churches, the YWCA, the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
Ackerman discusses her childhood, family and early influential figures in her life. She recalls what it was like to be both a stockbroker and social activist in the late 1970s, and describes her role in the ERA campaign in Georgia. After her work with the ERA, Ackerman went on to participate in several gubernatorial campaigns and then furthered her professional career by taking a job at Dean Witter. Ackerman also discusses how her involvement in the women's movement affected her children and interfered with her professional life. In addition, she identifies what she considers to be the most difficult obstacles of the women's movement.
Transcript of this excerpt: CB: So describe what you did, what groups of organizations you belonged to or worked with. VA: Well, when I first started out with ERA Georgia, I did go over and stuff envelopes and, you know, file, answer the phone and all that sort of stuff. And then one of the gals over there, Roberta Malavenda -- I've forgotten what her official title was -- but she said, "Ginger, we need -- we need to get organized in Cobb County!" And I lived in east Cobb County, and I said, "Oh, gosh, I've never done anything like that," and she kept convincing me I could do it. So I never shall forget -- there was a shopping center called Merchants Walk in east Cobb County, and we got -- I got a card table and all these buttons and all this literature [and] set up this card table on a Saturday morning in the spring. And I wore my little housewifey-looking outfit so I wouldn't be intimidating in Cobb County, because that was not the thing -- to come, you know, striding into Cobb County on a horse, and I remember I wore a little white skirt, a little green T-shirt, and so I didn't look threatening at all. And I simply set up on the corner -- my table, and my information, and I guess during the day I had about 12 women come by and say, "Oh, boy, we are for this," you know. CB: My goodness. VA: So I took all their names, and we had a meeting on my back porch, and we started that day. I had -- one was the president of the League of Women Voters, people from the YWCA. We formed what we called the -- I think it was called the Cobb Coalition for the ERA. We brought in the churches, we brought in churches, YWCA, League of Women Voters, the AAUW. We had representatives from all those groups, and we all banded together to do something about it. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/coles/id/2031
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/coles:2031/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: Virginia MacMahon Ackerman oral history interview, Georgia Women's Movement Oral History Project, W008, Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Ga.
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Women's Movement Project Collection
Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
