Panke Bradley Miller oral history interview, December 18, 2000

Interviewed by Joyce Durand. Miller discusses her childhood as a member of a traditional, but intellectually liberal family in conservative Macon, Georgia and says that she feels very fortunate to have been encouraged to attend Antioch College in Yellow Springs Ohio. She talks extensively about her experiences at Antioch, and particular, her growing involvement with the Civil Rights Movement and her feelings about her home -- the South, viewed from a liberal college in the North. She goes on to talk about her graduate studies in social work and community organization at the University of Chicago. She believes that this education gave her the tools necessary to eventually earn a position on the Atlanta City Council. Miller talks about the importance of family-friendly policies, and cites a job-sharing scheme that she implemented, and that is still successfully working today. Miller discusses Atlanta politics and development, and her feelings about Atlanta mayors Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young and Bill Campbell. She also talks about the importance of the neighborhood movement; and about her decision to leave politics and to enter the non-profit sector. When asked to consider why efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment failed, Miller states that one of the major problems was that Democratic and Republican women could not reach across party lines.