Date of Award

Spring 4-2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Marni Davis

Second Advisor

Kathryn Wilson

Abstract

The Andrew P. Stewart Center was founded by a group of Southern Baptist women in 1916 as the “Andrew Stewart Day Nursery.” Members of the Baptist Women’s Missionary Union, these women sought to alleviate the impoverished conditions facing children and families living in the English Avenue community of Atlanta. The organization survived ten decades of dramatic social change, and currently operates in the Pittsburgh neighborhood. This thesis chronicles the Stewart Center’s evolution over the course of the past century, reflecting on larger patterns of Atlanta’s history while also highlighting the unique responses of an organization largely led by female, Southern Baptist missionaries and volunteers. Racial transitions feature prominently in the Center’s evolution: neighborhood white flight and school desegregation played a pivotal role in the organization’s geographic location and interpretation of purpose.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/11991702

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