Georgia W. Benton is an American schoolteacher, businesswoman, and clubwoman. In 2013, she became the first African-American member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Georgia.

Biography

Benton was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. She grew up during racial segregation.[1] Her great-grandfather, George W. Washington, was an enslaved man from Sumter, South Carolina who served as a body servant to his enslaver's son, Lieutenant William Alexander McQueen, from 1862 to the last days of the American Civil War,[2] seeing the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Siege of Petersburg.[2] As a child, she paid annual visits to her great-grandfather's gravesite, a four-foot high obelisk in Walker Cemetery.[2][1] As a young woman, she was involved in the Civil rights movement in Port Wentworth, Georgia.[3]

Benton worked as a mathematics teacher in the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools System.[2] After retiring from teaching, she opened a tax and accounting service.[2]

In 2013, Benton applied to join the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a lineage society that promotes the pseudohistorical Lost Cause narrative, submitting proof of her lineage to Washington and proof of his military service using her family bible, his gravestone, birth records, marriage records, death records, and census records.[2][4] Her application was accepted in October 2013, making her the first African-American member of the Savannah Chapter and the only African-American member in the Georgia division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[2][1] She was inducted into the organization's Second Savannah Chapter by the chapter's president, Elizabeth Piechocinski, on December 14, 2013, during a Christmas luncheon.[3][5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Montoya, Orlando (February 26, 2014). "Slave Descendant Joins Confederate Heritage Group". Georgia Public Broadcasting. Atlanta, Georgia. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mobley, Chuck (February 22, 2014). "African-American Savannah woman takes her place among United Daughters of the Confederacy". Savannah Morning News. Savannah, Georgia. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Martin, Katie (December 23, 2013). "Woman makes history by joining confederate group". Athens Banner-Herald. Athens, Georgia. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  4. ↑ Marchant, Bristow (February 22, 2014). "A Proud Legacy In Unexpected Places". The Item. Sumter, South Carolina. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  5. ↑ Martin, Katie (December 14, 2013). "United Daughters of Confederacy make history with induction". Savannah Morning News. Savannah, Georgia. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
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