When recounting the history of the Diocese of Georgia, one can miss the impact that extends well beyond the bounds of the Diocese. Two women–Sarah Elliott and Nellie Bright–raised in the Diocese are examples of people influenced here who went on to make a difference well beyond Georgia.
Sarah “Sada” Barnwell Elliott (1848-1928) was born at the Montpelier Institute, which her father, Bishop Stephen Elliott founded near Forsyth, Georgia. Elliott was a strong proponent of education for women. Bishop Elliott died in 1866, when Sada was 18. She moved to Sewanee with her mother in 1871 and other than attending classes at Johns Hopkins University in 1886 and living in New York City from 1895 to 1904, she was on the Mountain the remainder of her life.
Sada published her first novel, The Felmeres (1879), at the age of 31. The novel of a woman whose unbending devotion to duty and honor led to tragic consequences interested reviewers who did not anticipate serious themes from a woman. She traveled to Texas to visit her brother, Robert, who was the Missionary Bishop of Western Texas, which led to her second novel, A Simple Heart (1887). As with all of her writings, the Episcopal Church featured prominently in the story. Her most successful novel was Jerry (1891) and her strongest female lead came with The Making of Jane (1901). She set aside her career as an author to raise two orphaned nephews. Yet, she remained a noted resident of Sewanee with her “Mondays” when she held an open house for residents and students during which she gained a reputation for her sharp wit.
Elliott became active in the women’s suffrage movement and served as president of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association from 1912-1914. Her invitation to the National American Woman Suffrage Association led to that group meeting in Nashville in 1914 in a convention that increased support for suffrage in Tennessee. Her writing was part of a movement of local color books, with characters speaking in dialect, that fell out of fashion by the time she died. Her work on the right to vote had an enduring legacy as Tennessee became the last state needed to pass women’s suffrage nationwide.
Nellie Rathbone Bright (1898-1977) was born in Savannah to the Rev. Richard and Nellie Bright. Her father was the Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Savannah. Her mother, Nellie, was educated in Europe as a teacher. The Bright’s valued education and established the first private kindergarten and primary school for blacks in Georgia. When their daughter, also named Nellie, was 12, the family moved to Philadelphia as part of the Great Migration. After graduation from the University of Pennsylvania in 1923 with a Bachelors in English, Bright taught in Philadelphia public schools. She served as a principal from 1935 until her 1952 retirement. During the 1920s she was part of a literary group known as the Black Opals. In 1927–1928, She co-edited Black Opals, together with Arthur Fauset. The literary magazine, published in Philadelphia, was part of the larger influence of the Harlem Renaissance.
Allen Ballard was a student of hers who became an author and history professor. He said that she was a strict principal who instilled a love for and pride of African American history and culture in her students. He added, “We were all Nellie Bright’s children and she expected great things from us and so she created a wonderful school.”
Pictured: Sarah Barnwell Elliott (top) The Felmeres is linked above and her short-story collection As Others See Us is also in print; Nellie Rathbone Bright (bottom).
