Date of Award
Spring 5-6-2012
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Women's Studies
First Advisor
Dr. Layli Maparyan
Second Advisor
Dr. Amira Jarmakani
Third Advisor
Dr. Clifford M. Kuhn
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Sharon Y. Nickols
Abstract
ABSTRACT This work answers the question “Who was Frances Virginia?” by recovering the story of an Atlanta entrepreneur, Frances Virginia Wikle Whitaker, and her tea room foodservice business. It acknowledges “Frances Virginia,” as the public knew her; and focuses on her career as demonstrative of an under‐theorized form of women’s activism. Her education and proclivity in the once all‐female domain of home economics have important characteristics that are under‐ represented, and often misinterpreted, in today’s discourse. I use a womanist theoretical lens within a historical frame to examine her story as a home economist during the tea room movement of the U. S. feminist movement’s Transition Era, 1920s‐1960s. Together, these elements illuminate the significance of Frances Virginia and her particular form of activism.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/2776479
Recommended Citation
Coleman, Mildred H., "Recovering Frances Virginia and the Frances Virginia Tea Room: Transition Era Activism at the Intersections of Womanism, Feminism, and Home Economics, 1920-1962." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2012.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/2776479