Civil War soldier. Having won a performance contest sponsored by the Women's Christian Temperance Union as a child, she pursued an entertainment career, 1st with members of her family, and eventually on her own. She was the 1st African-American Academy Award winner, for her role as the all-knowing Mammy in "Gone With the Wind." Later criticized for accepting such domestic-servant roles, she retorted: "I'd rather make $700 a week playing a maid than earn $7 a day being a maid."... 1835, Rebecca Latimer Felton, who would become the 1st woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, was born in DeKalb County, Georgia. Filling a vacancy by appointment, she represented that state as a Democratic Senator for a single day, Nov. 21, 1922. Felton, a progressive on women's issues but far from it on issues of race, predicted that as more women became legislators, "you will get ability, you will get integrity of purpose, you will get exalted patriotism, and you will get unstinted usefulness."
