# Moina Michael

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American academic (1869–1944)

Moina Michael on a 1948 U.S. [commemorative stamp](/source/Commemorative_stamp)

The Poppy Lady Georgia Historical Marker

**Moina Belle Michael** (August 15, 1869 – May 10, 1944) was an American [professor](/source/Professor) and [humanitarian](/source/Humanitarian) who conceived the idea of using [poppies](/source/Papaver_rhoeas) as a [symbol of remembrance](/source/Remembrance_poppy) for those who served in [World War I](/source/World_War_I).

## Early life

Michael was born in 1869 and lived on what is now known as 3698 Moina Michael Road in [Good Hope](/source/Good_Hope%2C_Georgia), in [Walton County, Georgia](/source/Walton_County%2C_Georgia). She was the eldest daughter and second of the seven children of John Marion Michael, a [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) veteran of the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War), and Alice Sherwood Wise.[1] She was distantly related to General [Francis Marion](/source/Francis_Marion) on her father's side, and the Wise family of Virginia state governors on her mother's side. Both sides of her family had [Huguenot](/source/Huguenots) ancestry, with origins in [Brittany](/source/Brittany) and [Flanders](/source/Flanders) respectively. Her family was wealthy and owned a cotton plantation until 1898. She was educated at Braswell Academy in [Morgan County](/source/Morgan_County%2C_Georgia), and the [Martin Institute](/source/Martin_Institute) in [Jefferson, Georgia](/source/Jefferson%2C_Georgia).[2]

She became a teacher in 1885, initially in Good Hope and then in [Monroe, Georgia](/source/Monroe%2C_Georgia). She taught at the [Lucy Cobb Institute](/source/Lucy_Cobb_Institute) and [State Normal School](/source/State_Normal_School_(Athens%2C_Georgia)), both located in [Athens, Georgia](/source/Athens%2C_Georgia). She studied at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) in 1912–13.

## First World War

Michael visited Europe in June and July 1914. She was in Germany when the [First World War](/source/World_War_I) broke out in August 1914, and travelled to Rome to return home to the US. In Rome, she assisted around 12,000 US tourists to seek passage back across the Atlantic. She returned to the US on the [RMS *Carpathia*](/source/RMS_Carpathia) and returned to teaching at Normal School in Athens, Georgia.

She was a professor at the [University of Georgia](/source/University_of_Georgia) when the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917. She took a leave of absence from her work and volunteered to assist in the New York-based training headquarters for overseas [YWCA](/source/YWCA) workers.[3]

## Remembrance poppy

On 9 November 1918, inspired by the Canadian [John McCrae](/source/John_McCrae) battlefront-theme poem "[In Flanders Fields](/source/In_Flanders_Fields)", she wrote a poem in response called "[We Shall Keep the Faith](/source/We_Shall_Keep_the_Faith)".[3] In tribute to the opening lines of McCrae's poem – "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row," – Michael vowed to always wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in the war.[4]

After the war was over, Michael returned to the University of Georgia and taught a class of disabled servicemen. Realizing the need to provide financial and occupational support for these servicemen, she pursued the idea of selling silk poppies as a means of raising funds to assist disabled veterans. In 1921, her efforts resulted in the poppy being adopted as a symbol of remembrance for war [veterans](/source/Veteran) by the [American Legion Auxiliary](/source/American_Legion_Auxiliary), and by [Earl Haig](/source/Douglas_Haig%2C_1st_Earl_Haig)'s British Legion Appeal Fund (later the [Royal British Legion](/source/Royal_British_Legion)) later that year.[4]

## Later life and legacy

Known as the "Poppy Lady" for her humanitarian efforts, Michael received numerous awards during her lifetime. She retired from the University of Georgia in 1934, and published an [autobiography](/source/Autobiography) in 1941, *The Miracle Flower: The Story of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy*.

In 1944, a [Liberty ship](/source/Liberty_ship) constructed in Georgia was named SS *Moina Michael* in her honor. In 1948, four years after her death, the [U.S. Postal Service](/source/U.S._Postal_Service) issued a commemorative 3-cent stamp honoring her life's achievement. In 1969, the Georgia General Assembly named a section of [U.S. Highway 78](/source/U.S._Highway_78) the Moina Michael Highway.[3] In 1999 she was named to the [Georgia Women of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Women_of_Achievement) Hall of Fame.[5] She was a member of the [Daughters of the American Revolution](/source/Daughters_of_the_American_Revolution) and the [United Daughters of the Confederacy](/source/United_Daughters_of_the_Confederacy).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] A statue of Moina Michael is located in front of the [courthouse](/source/Walton_County_Courthouse_(Georgia)) in Monroe, Georgia. Moina Michael is buried in Rest Haven Cemetery, 200 North Madison Avenue in Monroe, GA.

## See also

- [Lillian Bilsky Freiman](/source/Lillian_Bilsky_Freiman)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Hudson, Paul S., and Lora Mirza. "[Moina Belle Michael (1869–1944)](https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/moina-belle-michael-1869-1944)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 15 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Mlle Michael Biography (1869–1944)](http://www.greatwar.co.uk/people/moina-belle-michael-biography.htm), greatwar.co.uk

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-DLG_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-DLG_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-DLG_3-2) ["Moina Michael"](http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/mmichael.htm). Digital Library of Georgia/University of Georgia. Retrieved 2009-02-18.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BBC_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BBC_4-1) ["Where did the idea to sell poppies come from?"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6133312.stm). BBC News. November 10, 2006. Retrieved 2009-02-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** "Area News Briefs". *[Athens Banner-Herald](/source/Athens_Banner-Herald)*. March 22, 1999. As part of Women's History Month, the Georgia Women of Achievement and Shorter College will hold a joint program titled "Georgia Women Meeting Challenges" on Friday and Saturday at Shorter College, Rome....Two distinguished Georgians, Moina Belle Michael and Lillian Eugenia Smith, will be honored at the induction ceremony. Michael will be recognized for originating the use of the poppy as a universal symbol of tribute to the soldiers of World War I and as a teacher of Georgia's young women in the 20th century.

## External links

- [Works by Moina Michael](https://librivox.org/author/10135) at [LibriVox](/source/LibriVox) (public domain audiobooks)

- [Moina Michael](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9759) at [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave)

v t e Georgia Women of Achievement 1990s 1992 Martha Berry Lucy Craft Laney Juliette Gordon Low Flannery O'Connor 1993 Dicksie Bradley Bandy Mary Musgrove Cassandra Pickett Durham Viola Ross Napier Ma Rainey 1994 Julia Flisch Carson McCullers Margaret Mitchell Ruth Hartley Mosley Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman 1995 Selena Sloan Butler Anna Colquitt Hunter Hazel Jane Raines 1996 Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson Nellie Peters Black Ellen Craft Corra Harris Lugenia Burns Hope 1997 Rebecca Latimer Felton Mary Ann Harris Gay Nancy Hart Lucy Barrow McIntire 1998 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Julia Collier Harris Rhoda Kaufman Carrie Steele Logan 1999 Moina Michael Lillian Smith 2000s 2000 Sallie Ellis Davis Laura Askew Haygood Ellen Axson Wilson 2001 Julia L. Coleman Catherine Evans Whitener 2002 Wessie Gertrude Connell Lula Dobbs McEachern Alice Harrell Strickland 2003 Madeleine Kiker Anthony Helena Maud Brown Cobb Julia Lester Dillon Leila Ross Wilburn 2004 Mathilda Beasley Louise Frederick Hays Helen Dortch Longstreet Sarah McLendon Murphy Emily Barnelia Woodward 2005 Alice Woodby McKane Nina Anderson Pape Jeannette Rankin 2006 Eliza Frances Andrews Grace Towns Hamilton Sarah Porter Hillhouse 2007 Margaret O. Bynum Edith Lenora Foster Helen Douglas Mankin Sara Branham Matthews 2008 Elfrida De Renne Barrow Amilee Chastain Graves Susan Dowdell Myrick 2009 Caroline Pafford Miller Jane Hurt Yarn Harriet Powers 2010s 2010 Mary Ann Lipscomb Celestine Sibley Madrid Williams 2011 Lillian Gordy Carter Mary Francis Hill Coley May duBignon Stiles Howard 2012 Sarah Randolph Bailey Beulah Rucker Oliver Ethel Harpst 2013 Lollie Belle Wylie Mary Gregory Jewett Henrietta Stanley Dull 2014 Rebecca Stiles Taylor Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas Bazoline Estelle Usher 2015 Allie Carroll Hart Frances Freeborn Pauley Nell Kendall Hodgson Woodruff 2016 Sarah Harper Heard Ellamae Ellis League Katie Hall Underwood 2017 Carolyn Mackenzie Carter Clermont Huger Lee Lucile Nix 2018 Ludie Clay Andrews Susie Baker King Taylor Mamie George S. Williams 2019 Leila Denmark Mary Dorothy Lyndon 2020s 2020 Clarice Cross Bagwell Katharine DuPre Lumpkin Juanita Marsh Jean Elizabeth Geiger Wright 2021 Ruby M. Anderson Mary G. Bryan Laura Pope Forester Allie Murray Smith 2022 Lizzie Lurline Collier Josephine Fields Sanders Hedy West Josephine Wilkins 2023 Phyllis Jenkins Barrow Alice Coachman Luck Flanders Gambrell Dorothy Rogers Tilly 2024 Beatrice Hirsch Haas Adella Hunt Logan Valerie Murphey Elizabeth "Bessie" Tift 2025 Jessye Norman Alma Thomas

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Moina Michael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moina_Michael) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moina_Michael?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.