Frances Freeborn Pauley

{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Frances Freeborn Pauley | image = Frances Freeborn - Agnes Scott College, Silhouette (1927 yearbook) (page 57 crop).jpg | alt = A young white woman wearing an academic cap and gown | caption = Frances Freeborn (later Pauley), from the 1927 yearbook of Agnes Scott College | birth_name = Frances Freeborn | birth_date = September 11, 1905 | birth_place = [[Wadsworth, Ohio]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2003|2|16|1905|9|11}} | death_place = [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]], U.S. | education = [[Agnes Scott College]] | spouse = William Crooks Pauley (May 25, 1930) | children = Joan Pauley Lamb Marylin Pauley Beittel | mother = Josephine Andrews Freeborn | father = William Freeborn }} '''Frances Freeborn Pauley''' (September 11, 1905 – February 16, 2003) was a southern [[civil rights activist]] in Georgia, who battled against racial injustice and discrimination throughout her life. Due to her actions in the civil rights movement, she led to the eventual desegregation and integration of African Americans in the south.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tal|first=Kali|year=2002|title=Biographies of Frances Freeborn Pauley and Fannie Lou Hamer|journal=Feminist Collections|volume=23|issue=3}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Pauley was born on September 11, 1905, in [[Wadsworth, Ohio|Wadsworth Ohio]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/pauley659/|title=Frances Freeborn Pauley papers, 1919-1992|author=Pauley, Frances Freeborn|date=2006-11-10|website=findingaids.library.emory.edu|access-date=2016-11-15}}</ref> She was born to William Freeborn and Josephine Andrews Freeborn. Pauley's only sibling was her brother William Elbridge Freeborn. In 1908 at the age of three, Pauley moved with her family to [[Decatur, Georgia]] in [[DeKalb County, Georgia|DeKalb County]]. Pauley attended [[Decatur High School (Georgia)|Decatur High School]] for her primary education, following onto [[Agnes Scott College]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTGlAwAAQBAJ&q=frances+freeborn+pauley&pg=PA213|title=Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times Volume 2|first=Kathryn L. |last=Nasstrom |chapter=Frances Freeborn Pauley (1905-2003) : Working for Justice in Twentieth-Century Georgia |pages=212–235 |editor1-last=Chirhart|editor1-first=Ann Short|editor2-last=Clark|editor2-first=Kathleen Ann|year=2014|publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]]|isbn=9780820337845|language=en}}</ref> Pauley graduated in 1927 with a degree of mathematics.<ref name=":0" /> At that time, due to the upbringing in both the Mid-west and the South, Pauley adopted a dual identity growing up.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/frances-pauley-1905-2003|title=Frances Pauley (1905-2003)|website=New Georgia Encyclopedia|access-date=2016-11-03}}</ref>

== Activism == Pauley began to work in public service during the [[Great Depression]].<ref name=":0" /> She formed a church group with other women that worked to provide food and services to the impoverished citizens of [[DeKalb County, Georgia|DeKalb County]].<ref name=":2" /> Her organization raised money to provide lunches to all students in public schools in the county. Pauley continued to work to provide services for those that did not have access to basic care, setting up a medical clinic in Decatur.<ref name=":0" /> Pauley was a prominent voice in her community in advocating for racial integration. As president of the [[League of Women Voters]] she repealed bylaws that restricted membership to only white women.<ref name=":2" />

Pauley gathered support from other politicians and activists in the area, including [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and became the executive director of the [[Georgia Council on Human Relations|Georgia Council on Human relations]] in 1960 where she continued to work for further integration of schools and began to advocate for community organizations that encouraged participation and cooperation between citizens of differing races.<ref name=":2" />

Pauley was then appointed to the [[U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare]] in 1968 where she worked and advocated for the continued desegregation and protection of schools in Georgia and across the country. Pauley served in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare until 1973 when officially retired.<ref name=":2" />

== Legacy == Throughout her activism career, Pauley held many positions which resulted in her having a crucial role in the civil rights movement. These positions include: President of the DeKalb County League of Women Voters, President of the Georgia chapter of the [[League of Women Voters]], Head of [[Georgia Council on Human Relations]], and working as an administrator in Office of Civil Rights of the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services|U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/everybodysgrandm0000nass |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/everybodysgrandm0000nass/page/206 206] |quote=frances freeborn pauley. |title=Everybody's Grandmother and Nobody's Fool: Frances Freeborn Pauley and the Struggle for Social Justice |last=Nasstrom |first=Kathryn L. |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0801437822 |language=en}}</ref> The culmination of these positions resulted in Frances Freeborn Pauley cementing her legacy as an influential individual in the southern civil rights movement.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|year=2003|title=Civil-rights activist Frances Freeborn Pauley dies at age 97|journal=ProQuest|id={{ProQuest|430201562}}}}</ref> In every position which she held, Pauley attempted to promote equality and actively attempted to integrate African Americans into the structure of the institution. She was posthumously inducted into the [[Georgia Women of Achievement]] in 2015.

== Personal life == After Graduation from [[Agnes Scott College]] in 1927 with a degree in mathematics, Pauley proceeded to assist in theatrical productions throughout [[DeKalb County, Georgia|DeKalb County]] as well as [[Atlanta|Atlanta, Georgia]].<ref name=":0" /> Whilst directing a play at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Frances Freeborn Pauley met a landscape architect by the name of William Crooks Pauley. This encounter resulted in their eventual marriage on May 25, 1930. Frances and William Pauley remained married throughout the extent of their lives and served as the parents to two daughters, Joan Pauley Lamb, and Marylin Pauley Beittel.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/pauley659/|title=Frances Freeborn Pauley papers, 1919-1992|author=Pauley, Frances Freeborn|date=2006-11-10|website=findingaids.library.emory.edu|access-date=2016-11-03}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pauley, Frances Freeborn}} [[Category:American civil rights activists]] [[Category:1905 births]] [[Category:2003 deaths]] [[Category:Agnes Scott College alumni]] [[Category:20th-century American women]] [[Category:20th-century American people]] [[Category:American women civil rights activists]] [[Category:21st-century American women]]