Voting Station

Rebecca Latimer (Felton)

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U.S. Senator

The Resume

    (June 10, 1835-January 24, 1930)
    Born in Decatur, Georgia
    Birth name was Rebecca Ann Latimer
    American women's suffragist
    Married to Georgia Senator and former Congressman William Harrell Felton (1853-1909)
    First woman to serve in the United States Senate
    Wrote 'My Memoirs of Georgia Politics (1911)' and 'Country Life in Georgia in the Days of my Youth (1919)'

Why she might be annoying:

    She supported Prohibition.
    She was an avowed white supremacist.
    She gave speeches in support of the lynchings of black men.
    She was Congress's very last former slave owner.
    She served in the Senate for a grand total of twenty four hours (from November 21, 1922 to November 22, 1922).
    She was not elected to the Senate - rather she was appointed by Governor Thomas Hardwicke to succeed incumbent Senator Thomas E. Watson (who died in office unexpectedly).
    She was selected because A) Governor Hardwicke was looking for someone who wouldn't be a competitor in the upcoming special election to fill the vacant seat and B) he wanted the votes of new women voters who were alienated by his opposition to the 19th Amendment.
    So ironically what you have here is the first token Affirmative action hire that conservatives are always complaining about!
    The ploy failed anyway - and Hardwicke lost the special election race to Walter F. George.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She could have been portrayed by Irene Ryan from The Beverly Hillbillies.
    She witnessed part of the Trail of Tears as a girl.
    She ran her husband's political campaigns.
    She was an advocate of prison reform, equal pay, and free public education for women.
    In addition to being the first woman Senator, she was the oldest freshman Senator to enter Congress at 87.
    She was the only woman to represent Georgia in the Senate until Kelly Loeffler in 2020 (who was also appointed and didn't win reelection).
    She was interviewed on film at the age of 94 in 1929, discussing her childhood and political accomplishments (it now has over 1 million views on YouTube).
    She died a year after giving the interview.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 68 Votes: 47.06% Annoying