Mary Vick Graves oral history interview, February 25, 1997

Item — othertype: Oral History

Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Graves describes her childhood and college education, as well as her work as an activist for the ERA Georgia campaign. She articulates what it was like going back to school 1967, "during the hippie era," and how up until that point she had spent her life as a daughter, a wife and involved in church activities. Graves says that she feared that her affiliation with the ERA campaign could potentially threaten her career as a professional CPA. She not only discusses what the women's movement meant to her, but also what the movement has accomplished for women. She says, "I think it has changed the way that a lot of women feel about themselves’ and has created an environment where women are more often taken seriously." Graves also describes what she recalls as some of the major obstacles to the women's movement.

Dates

Creation: February 25, 1997

Creator

Graves, Mary Vick (Interviewee, Person)

Restrictions on Access

Oral history available for research. Please contact Special Collections and Archives about accessing this oral history.

Biographical note

Mary Vick Graves was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1925 and lived there for most of her childhood. Although she began her college career at Auburn University, Graves went on to receive her BA at the College of William and Mary in 1972. Her interest in the women's movement began when she was working for the state of Virginia and realized that the state's inheritance laws did not recognize the financial contribution of women. Graves attended her first NOW meeting while living in Virginia, but she did not become active in the women's movement until she moved to Georgia and joined the 1981 campaign to pass the ERA. She volunteered at the ERA Georgia, Inc. office, distributed leaflets and marched in honor of the suffragettes. After the defeat of the ERA, Graves went on to become involved in number of causes that focus on gender issues.