Dorothy J. Tracy oral history interview, June 11, 1996

Item — othertype: Oral History

Identifier: W008_TracyD_19960611

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Interviewed by Dana Von Tilborg. Tracy discusses her childhood and education in Pittsburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and recounts that her “mother was very intent on women’s rights, that women were just as capable as men.” She goes on to talk about her courtship, marriage and early married life with her husband Jack Tracy. During this period, she joined the League of Women Voters, and became politically active. Tracy recounts that when her husband died (in 1963), she became particularly aware of the fact that women needed to be financially responsible for themselves. She goes on to say that as a student at Georgia State University, she was asked to teach a women’s financial planning community college-level course. Not surprisingly, her interests in the Women’s Movement were focused on women’s financial rights, and in particular taxation. Tracy discusses the way the Women’s Movement affected her personal life and in particular the lives of her children. She finishes by considering the accomplishments to the Women’s Movement: the greatest, she feels, is that women not only have access to professions previously closed to them, but that they also have a greater sense of their own worth.

Dates

Creation: June 11, 1996

Creator

Tracy, Dorothy J., 1920- (Interviewee, Person)

Restriction on Access

Oral history available for research in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room.

Biographical Note

Dorothy J. Tracy, activist, author, financial planner, and lobbyist, was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 1920. She received a bachelor's degree in economics from Georgia State University in 1967, and went on to develop courses for GSU's Continuing Education Program (1978-1985) as well as write The ABC's of School Finance in Georgia (1983). She worked to establish the American Association of Retired Persons' (AARP) Money Management Workshops for Women (1987) which are taught nationwide, and she has served on the task force of marital property and taxes (1987-1988) with the League of Women Voters of Georgia. Tracy was a long time member and president (1975-1977) of the Atlanta/Fulton League of Women Voters, chair of the Georgia lottery study from 1991-1993, and Legislative Coordinator for the 1993 legislative session. An active participant in Georgia politics, Tracy was a lobbyist for the Atlanta Council for Children, 1979-1981; and legislative aide to Representative Eleanor Richardson, 1983-1990. She was legislative chair for the American Association of University Women for Atlanta and Georgia, 1983-1987 and 1992; a member of the Atlanta Civil Service Board, 1985-1994; and a board member for the Atlanta Regional Community Task Force on the Elderly, 1988. In 1995 Tracy served as chair of the AARP Legislative Committee. She has been honored with Outstanding Catholic Woman of Georgia from the Archdiocese of Georgia, 1977; the Community Service Award from the Atlanta Women's Chamber of Commerce, 1984; the Georgia Governor's Commendation, 1988; the League of Women Voter's Eudora Rogers Award for outstanding service, 1992-1993; and the YWCA's Salute to Women of Achievement, 1998.