-On November 8, 1900, Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents Eugene Muse Mitchell, and Maybelle Stephens. Her father was a well respected attorney, and her mother was a strong suffragette supporter with proud Irish roots. She instilled both in her children.
-Margaret constantly wrote when she was a child, and was encouraged by her mother to pursue her literary interests.
-As with Scarlett, Margaret found boys to be more entertaining than girls, and was a tomboy in her youth. She would write plays for her brother and the other neighbourhood boys, and stage them in the front parlours of her house.
-Margaret was also greatly interested in the wars that her ancestors had participated in, and she would listen for hours while stories of patriotism were told to her.
-In 1917, she fell in love with Clifford Henry, and educated soldier in the first world war. He would die in the war, but Margaret would keep his memory alive by basing the character, Ashley Wilkes, on him.
-While Margaret is at Smith College, her mother becomes ill. Margaret rushes home, but does not reach her mother in time. (sound familiar?)
-Margaret became notorious for being a flirt, and hanging out in bars that "no nice girl would be seen in." She was supposed to become a debutante, but at her debut she performed a suggestive and "inappropriate dance" and was refused admission. This is also attributed to the fact that she chose to do charity work for the black and the poor at Grady Hospital. She furiously vowed to get revenge on "those fat old cats". (sound familiar?)
-In 1922, she married Red Upshaw (whose best friend John Marsh is also in love with her). Soon after Red became abusive, and they divorced. (note: Margaret loosely based the character of Rhett on him)
-Later Mitchell won a job as a reporter for Atlanta Journal Magazine. She became the first woman to cover hard news for the magazine.
-In 1925, John Marsh was in a car accident, and Margaret realized that she was in love with him. They are married on July 4.
-In 1926, Margaret was forced to quit the journal because of arthritis in her ankles and feet. One day, John brought her home a typewriter, saying, "Madam, I greet you on the beginning of a great new career." Margaret began writing what she, John and a friend jokingly called "the
great american novel." (In an interview several years later, the friend reflected on this, and laughingly said, "By God, we were right.")
-While Harold Latham of McMillam Publishing was in town in search of new talent, a friend asked Margaret to show him around. He discovered that she had a manuscript, and begged to see it, but she stubbornly refused. After a friend cuttingly remarked that she just was not serious enough to be a writer, Margaret furiously gave Latham the manuscript. Latham fell in love with it, and bought it from her.
-On June 10, 1936, the book was published. The publishers told her not to expect large sales, but by October, the book had sold one million copies.
-David O. Selznick bought the film rights to the novel.
-In 1937, Margaret won a Pulitzer prize for Gone With the Wind.
-In 1939, the film premiered, of course doing extremely well. In fact, taking into consideration the change in the price of tickets from 1939, to now, Gone With the Wind is still the number one money making film ever, and is considered by many fans and critics to be the best film ever made.
-During the 40's Margaret became a full time volunteer.
-On August 11, 1949, Margaret is hit by a cab driver. She dies several days later. She is buried in the Mitchell family plot.
-John Marsh dies of a heart attack in 1952, and is buried next to Margaret in Oakland
Cemetery.
-sponsored undergraduate and medical school education of fifty Morehouse College graduates.
-credited by Hughes Spalding with the inspiration for the Hughes Spalding Pavilion at Grady Hospital.
-funded black and white emergency clinics at Grady Hospital.
-campaigned across the Southeast andraised $65 million to rebuild USS Atlanta after it sank at Guadalcanal.
-helped to rebuild French town of Vimontiers after World War II.
-supported police chiefHerbert Jenkins in integrating Atlanta Police Department.
-led creative writing program at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.
-covered medical expenses for many nuns associated with the Sisters of Mercy of St. Joseph's Infirmary.
-nursed friends, relatives, and household help at bedside at Grady Hospital and St. Joseph'