{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox person | name = Alice Harrell Strickland | image = | caption = | birth_name = Alice Harrell | birth_date = {{birth date|1859|06|24}} | birth_place = [[Forsyth County, Georgia]] | death_date = {{death date and age |1947|09|08 |1859|06|24}} <!--(death date then birth date)--> | known_for = First woman mayor in state of Georgia | occupation = | awards = | spouse = Henry Lenoir Strickland, Jr. (1881–1915) | children = 7 }}
'''Alice Harrell Strickland''' (June 24, 1859 – September 8, 1947) was an American politician and activist from [[Duluth, Georgia]]. Strickland was the first woman to be elected [[mayor]] in the U.S. state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. She was also known for philanthropic work including establishing the first community forest in Georgia. In 2002 she was posthumously named a [[Georgia Woman of Achievement]].
==Early life and family== Alice Harrell was born June 24, 1859, in [[Forsyth County, Georgia]],{{r|bramblett}} the daughter of Newton Harrell and Mary Ellender (Harris) Harrell.{{r|hall}} She married Henry Lenoir Strickland, Jr. (a lawyer and businessman) in [[Forsyth, Georgia]], on November 10, 1881{{r|marriage}} when she was 22.{{r|gawomen}}
The married couple moved into Strickland's home in [[Duluth, Georgia]]. Mrs. Strickland became active in the Duluth Civic Club and Duluth Methodist Church.{{r|hall}} The couple would have seven children, all of whom attended college and inherited "their mother's pioneering spirit and courage."{{r|gawomen}} They built a new home on three acres of land in 1898, and it was designed by Mrs. Strickland.{{r|edmundson}} Her husband died at age 55 in 1915, leaving her with two children still at home.{{r|gawomen}}
==Activities== Strickland remained active after this. As president of the Duluth Civic Club, she volunteered an entire floor of her home to be used for sick children at a time when Duluth had no hospitals of its own.{{r|gawomen}} She also donated a portion of her land to Duluth to become the first community conservation forest in Georgia.{{r|gawomen}}
Strickland was a "[[suffragist]] from childhood."{{r|richmond}} In 1919 she was among many women who lobbied the [[Georgia General Assembly]] (unsuccessfully) in favor of the state's passage of what was then called the "[[Susan B. Anthony]] Amendment"{{r|const1919}} in favor of [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]].
==Political career== Just a year after that amendment was finally enacted as the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1920, Strickland ran for mayor of Duluth. She was elected in 1921 at age 62, becoming the first woman elected mayor in Georgia.{{r|edmundson}}{{r|gawomen}} Duluth at that time had a reputation for drunkenness and violence, and Strickland ran on a pledge to "clean up Duluth and rid it of demon rum".{{r|torrance}} In office, she was "considerate to petty offenders, but severe with those who willingly and flagrantly disregarded the rights of others".{{r|gawomen}} She was re-elected in 1922.{{r|bramblett}}
When [[Georgia Power]] planned to run an electric line across her property against her will. She held a [[shotgun]] as she blocked the workers from entering.{{r|bramblett}} Strickland lived in her same home until she died on September 8, 1947.{{r|hall}} She was buried in Duluth.
==Legacy== Strickland was named to the [[Georgia Women of Achievement]] hall of fame in 2002.{{r|gawomen}}
Strickland's [[Folk Victorian|Victorian home]] still exists at 2956 Buford Highway in Duluth. It was among the first sites for the [[Georgia Historical Society]]'s new historical marker program in 1998, when the house turned 100 years old.{{r|davis}} It was listed on the Georgia Register of Historic Places in 1999.{{r|edmundson}} Since at least 1977, some locals have claimed that the house is haunted by Strickland's ghost.{{r|torrance}}
In 2008 the Duluth Historical Society attempted to raise funds to purchase the house, which had come up for sale, intending to use it as a museum.{{r|edmundson}} The purchase effort did not succeed, but they were able to lease the house as a site to replace the previous historical museum, whose building had been razed.{{r|cauley}} In late 2014 the society moved to the Duluth Train Depot, another historic building.{{r|edmundson2}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name=bramblett>{{cite book|last=Bramblett |first=Annette |title=Forsyth County: History Stories |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=Arcadia |year=2002 |pages=76–78 | oclc=52601069 | isbn=9780738523866 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfcqEaqsTZwC&pg=PA76 | via=[[Google Books]] | access-date=November 16, 2018 }}</ref> <ref name=gawomen>{{cite web| url=http://www.georgiawomen.org/2010/10/strickland-alice-harrell/ | title=Strickland, Alice Harrell (1859 - 1947) / Inducted 2002 | website=Georgia Women of Achievement | date=March 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130713102931/http://www.georgiawomen.org/2010/10/strickland-alice-harrell/ | archive-date=July 13, 2013 | url-status=dead}}</ref> <ref name=edmundson>{{cite news|last=Edmundson |first=Faye |title='To become the gateway to our town' Duluth Historical Society wants Strickland House | date=May 30, 2008 |newspaper=[[Gwinnett Daily Post]] | url=https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/archive/to-become-the-gateway-to-our-town-duluth-historical-society/article_b02326af-496e-52f0-8d62-5f4c30a7ff06.html | access-date=November 16, 2018 | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117023300/https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/archive/to-become-the-gateway-to-our-town-duluth-historical-society/article_b02326af-496e-52f0-8d62-5f4c30a7ff06.html | archive-date=November 17, 2018 }}</ref> <ref name=marriage>{{cite web|title="Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950," database with images | website=[[FamilySearch]] |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXV3-LX2 |date=November 4, 2017 |access-date=November 17, 2018 |quote=Henry Strickland and Alice Harrell, 10 Nov 1881; citing Marriage, Forsyth, Georgia, United States, county courthouses, Georgia; FHL microfilm 329,928 }}</ref> <ref name=torrance>{{cite news|title=Howell's Cross Roads - Cotton was king, moonshine plentiful in wild early days |last=Torrance | first=Kay |date=July 11, 1993 | pages=J1,J4 |newspaper=[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25459466/cotton_was_king_22_page_j4/ |access-date=November 17, 2018 | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117133943/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25459466/cotton_was_king_22_page_j4/ |archive-date=November 17, 2018 |via=[[newspapers.com]]}} Includes a photo of Strickland.</ref> <ref name=cauley>{{cite news|title=History moves resident to preserve museum |last=Cauley |first=H.M. |date=November 9, 2011 | newspaper=Atlanta Journal-Constitution | page=B5 | access-date=November 16, 2018 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25454775/strickland_house_in_2011/ | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117142650/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25454775/strickland_house_in_2011/ | archive-date=November 17, 2018 |via=[[newspapers.com]]}}</ref> <ref name=edmundson2>{{cite web| title=Duluth Train Depot - A Little Bit About The Depot | last=Edmundson | first=Faye | url=http://www.duluthhistoricalsociety.org/duluth-train-depot/ | date=September 19, 2011 | website=Duluth Historical Society | access-date=November 16, 2018 | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229171650/http://www.duluthhistoricalsociety.org/duluth-train-depot/ | archive-date=December 29, 2017 }}</ref> <ref name=davis>{{cite news| title=Duluth home tops list of sites | last=Davis |first=Jingle | date=August 1, 1998 | newspaper=Atlanta Journal-Constitution | page=D2 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25470458/alice_strickland_house_to_get/ | access-date=November 17, 2018 | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117150206/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25470458/alice_strickland_house_to_get/ | archive-date=November 17, 2018 |via=[[newspapers.com]]}}</ref> <ref name=hall>{{cite web| title=Feisty Females: Alice Harrell Strickland | author=Hall, Sharon | date=August 29, 2014 | website=Digging History | url=http://digging-history.com/2014/08/29/feisty-females-alice-harrell-strickland/ | access-date=November 17, 2018 | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171127221203/http://digging-history.com/2014/08/29/feisty-females-alice-harrell-strickland/ | archive-date=November 27, 2017 }}</ref> <ref name=const1919>{{cite news |title=Suffrage Amendment Foes Win First Round But by Narrow Margin |newspaper=Atlanta Constitution |date=July 8, 1919 |pages=1, 2 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25471941/alice_strickland_on_suffrage_effort_in/ | access-date=November 17, 2018 | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117161719/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25471941/alice_strickland_on_suffrage_effort_in/ | archive-date=November 17, 2018 | quote=The action followed a lengthy hearing ...at which a large number of suffragists, some among the leading women of Atlanta and other Georgia towns...urged ratification of the amendment....Mrs. Alice Strickland, of Duluth, also made an appeal on behalf of the country women of the state, declaring that it was not true as had been asserted that the suffrage movement was limited entirely to the city women. She called out suddenly: "Where is this man Jackson? I want to see him." This gave Mr. Jackson the very opportunity he desired to appear and receive an ovation from the opponents of suffrage.|via=[[newspapers.com]]}}</ref> <ref name=richmond>{{cite news|title=News Events of the Day, Seen Through the Eye of the Camera |url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=RPD19230104.1.12&srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-alice+strickland------ |access-date=November 18, 2018|work=Richmond Palladium and Star-Telegram |date=January 4, 1923| location=Richmond, Indiana|page=12 |volume=93 |issue=4 |quote=Mrs. Alice Strickland has just been elected mayor of Duluth, Ga., the first woman mayor elected in that state. She is sixty-one years old and the mother of four sons and three daughters. She has been a suffragist from childhood. She declares she will make Duluth "clean inside and out." }}</ref> }}
==External links== * {{cite web |title=Historical Marker "Home of Alice Harrell Strickland — Georgia's First Woman Mayor" | url=https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/home-of-alice-harrell-strickland/ | website=[[Georgia Historical Society]] | date=16 June 2014 | access-date=November 16, 2018 }} * {{Findagrave|89891828}} {{Georgia Women of Achievement}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strickland, Alice Harrell}} [[Category:1859 births]] [[Category:1947 deaths]] [[Category:People from Duluth, Georgia]] [[Category:Women mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:People from Forsyth County, Georgia]] [[Category:Mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:20th-century mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:20th-century American women politicians]] [[Category:Suffragists from New York (state)]] [[Category:Activists from Georgia (U.S. state)]]