2020 March Book Program

About the Author

Georgia author Carolyn Newton Curry is the founder, leader, and guiding spirit of Women Alone Together. She began this nonprofit group in 2002 to create a community where women need not navigate the hurdles of the culture alone, but together, with each other. Carolyn is a scholar and an educator. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, with two advanced degrees in History from Georgia State University, she has taught at Atlanta's Westminster School and at the University of Kentucky.

As a historian, Carolyn's interest has been in celebrating the lives of women, especially those who have been forgotten. For many years, she did meticulous research on Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas of Augusta. Carolyn reviewed personal papers and public records, including 13 volumes of diaries covering 41 years, until they were succeeded by 15 scrapbooks of newspaper articles. Those were written as Thomas became a spokeswoman for female empowerment through suffrage.

Carolyn's abiding passion for women's history not only inspired the founding of Women Alone Together, it culminated in an award-winning biography in 2015. The Georgia Writers Association named Carolyn as Georgia Author of the Year in Biography for Suffer and Grow Strong, which was also selected that year as one of the ten "Books All Georgians Should Read." Pat Conroy said, "Suffer and Grow Strong is a remarkable biography by Carolyn Curry that is destined to become a classic in women's studies." The book sold out multiple printings. Mercer University Press is issuing a newly expanded edition for 2020 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage.

Learn more about Carolyn, her book, her family, and her many other achievements and awards at  http://www.carolyncurry.net/

About the Book

Georgia's Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas (1834-1907) was an intelligent, spirited woman whose eventful life changed dramatically with her place and time. As a privileged daughter of the antebellum South, she lived a fashionable life of leisure and learning. At a time when most people believed advanced education was not necessary for women, her wealthy father recognized her intelligence and sent her to Wesleyan Female College in Macon where she graduated in 1851. The next year Gertrude married her Princeton-educated husband and looked forward to a happy family life in Augusta. 

But the ravages of the Civil War in Georgia led to loss of wealth and loved ones, bankruptcy, illness, and family strife. Of ten children born, four died, while it fell to Gertrude to keep them safely sheltered. She ran a school in their home and a boarding house in the old family mansion. In 1893, Gertrude left Augusta for Atlanta, where she became a pioneer in the women's movement, serving as President of the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association and working tirelessly to help women make their own way in the world.  She knew she herself had "suffered and grown strong," and her story of survival and transformation is an inspiration to women now as it was then. 

Ordering the Expanded Edition

To ensure you receive the new edition, order directly from Mercer University Press. They are offering WAT a 20% discount and free USPS Media Mail shipping. Just call them directly at 478-301-2880 or order from the website Mercer University Press.

Use the word Facebook as the coupon code to receive the discount.