Maybelle Stephens Mitchell

Mary Isabel "Maybelle" Stephens Mitchell (January 13, 1872 – January 25, 1919) was an American suffragist, clubwoman, and activist. Born into a prestigious planting family of Irish Catholic background, she was educated at the Villa Maria Convent in Quebec and the Atlanta Female Seminary in Georgia. A social and political activist, Mitchell was a leader in the women's suffrage movement in Georgia, protesting against state laws and meeting with local politicians to advocate for the rights of women, and was a member of the Atlanta Woman's Club. In 1915, she served as the president of the Atlanta Women's Suffrage League and, later, co-founded the League of Women Voters in Georgia. Mitchell helped establish the Catholic Layman's Association of Georgia, fighting against anti-Catholicism in the United States. She was the mother of author and journalist Margaret Mitchell, whose character Ellen Robillard O'Hara from Gone With the Wind may have been based on Mitchell.

Personal life and family Mitchell was born Mary Isabel Stephens on January 13, 1872, at her parents' Jackson Street mansion in Atlanta. She was the seventh child of Captain John Stephens, a Confederate officer and merchant who served on the Atlanta Police Commission, and Annie Fitzgerald, a landowner. In the summertime she and her family would stay at the Fitzgerald family plantation in Clayton County with her aunts, Mary Ellen Fitzgerald and Sarah Fitzgerald.

Activism Mitchell was very active and well-respected in Atlanta society. She was known for her progressive views, enthusiasm for politics, and morality. She often protested against state laws that discriminated against women and met with local politicians to discuss women's rights. Mitchell was also an active member of the Atlanta Woman's Club, a philanthropic organization affiliated with the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

Death Mitchell contracted the Spanish flu and later developed pneumonia. She died on January 25, 1919. Her funeral was held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where she had been a parishioner. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery.