It was the year 1926... the place...Atlanta Georgia...a woman by the name of Margaret Mitchell lived there... a 26 year old who loved to read!
Margaret had come from an influential family in the Atlantic area, and had been born and raised in a "Southern Atmosphere".
It was during the "Roaring 20's" Margaret found herself participating in the "gin and jazz style" dances of the era. In fact, she had shocked some of the local "high society" of Atlanta during a charity ball when she performed the "Apache Dance"... a popular "flapper" dance which included kissing your male partner...totally taboo for the time. Along with that, Margaret engaged in "The Tango", and these 2 "erotic" dance choices gave Margaret a reputation of being "loose" in the Atlanta society circles, even though the popularity of the dances were becoming widespread throughout all classes of society.
Even Margaret had referred to herself as "an unscrupulous flirt", and at one point was engaged to 5 different men. Margaret strongly maintained she neither lied or misled any of them!
By 1922, Margaret had narrowed down her "conquests" to 2 men, of whom she saw both daily. She had also decided to change her name to Peggy, because of her interests in the mythological horse "Pegasus", and so went by either Peggy or Peg.
On September 2nd, 1922, Peggy married a Berrien "Red" Upshaw. Her family disapproved of her choice to marry, and to an extent understandable. Upshaw had been thrown out of the U.S. Naval Academy...twice, and in 1922 was earning his income by bootlegging alcohol out of the Georgia Mountains. The best man at the wedding was named John Marsh.
The marriage was short and costly for Peggy. By December of 1922, the marriage had been dissolved, but Peg had received physical and emotional abuse, mainly due to Upshaw's alcoholism and violent temper.
Yet, on July 4th, 1925 Peggy took another stab at love...this time marrying John Marsh, the best man at her first wedding. They moved into the Crescent Apts. in Atlanta, Apt. #1, and they affectionately referred to their home as "The Dump".
Peggy Mitchell had quite an interest in journalism, and although she really didn't get the support of her family on this career choice, she was able to land a job writing for the Atlantic Sunday Journal Magazine. Her topics were various and would include articles on fashion, on Confederate Generals, and even King Tut.
Her tenure as a writer for the Atlanta paper came to a close in 1926, mainly due to an article entitled: "Georgia's Empress and Women Soldiers", which received much criticism for writing of "strong women who did not fit the accepted standards of femininity." There were also claims of some "white supremist" views in the article as well.
So, in 1926, out of her main writing job, Peggy gave herself to becoming a full time housewife. Earlier in her young life, Peg had actually written some novels, and due to a recent ankle injury which kept her pretty much at home, she began to think along those lines.
Actually, she did still have an article written for the Atlantic Sunday Journal called: "Elizabeth Bennet's Gossip", but that too was shut down by the end of August in 1926.
John Marsh, her now 2nd husband, was becoming quite weary and frustrated as he now found himself lugging armloads of books from the local library to his home...so Peggy's mind could be occupied. Her ankle injury continued to prevent her from going anywhere for a period of time. Finally at one point John Marsh exclaims: " For God's sake Peggy, can't you write a book instead of reading thousands of them?"
So, John furthered his thought by bringing to Peggy a Remington Portable #3 Typewriter to encourage her on her literary endeavors. For the next 3 years Peggy did stay occupied, in fact she had so much manuscript she use part of it to prop up a wobbly sofa.
What was her latest idea? She was writing a novel about the Civil War era, about a young lady named Pansy O'Hara...whose name was later changed to Scarlett O'Hara. She entitled the novel..."Gone With The Wind", and was published in 1933.
It was during the "Roaring 20's" Margaret found herself participating in the "gin and jazz style" dances of the era. In fact, she had shocked some of the local "high society" of Atlanta during a charity ball when she performed the "Apache Dance"... a popular "flapper" dance which included kissing your male partner...totally taboo for the time. Along with that, Margaret engaged in "The Tango", and these 2 "erotic" dance choices gave Margaret a reputation of being "loose" in the Atlanta society circles, even though the popularity of the dances were becoming widespread throughout all classes of society.
Even Margaret had referred to herself as "an unscrupulous flirt", and at one point was engaged to 5 different men. Margaret strongly maintained she neither lied or misled any of them!
By 1922, Margaret had narrowed down her "conquests" to 2 men, of whom she saw both daily. She had also decided to change her name to Peggy, because of her interests in the mythological horse "Pegasus", and so went by either Peggy or Peg.
On September 2nd, 1922, Peggy married a Berrien "Red" Upshaw. Her family disapproved of her choice to marry, and to an extent understandable. Upshaw had been thrown out of the U.S. Naval Academy...twice, and in 1922 was earning his income by bootlegging alcohol out of the Georgia Mountains. The best man at the wedding was named John Marsh.
The marriage was short and costly for Peggy. By December of 1922, the marriage had been dissolved, but Peg had received physical and emotional abuse, mainly due to Upshaw's alcoholism and violent temper.
Yet, on July 4th, 1925 Peggy took another stab at love...this time marrying John Marsh, the best man at her first wedding. They moved into the Crescent Apts. in Atlanta, Apt. #1, and they affectionately referred to their home as "The Dump".
Peggy Mitchell had quite an interest in journalism, and although she really didn't get the support of her family on this career choice, she was able to land a job writing for the Atlantic Sunday Journal Magazine. Her topics were various and would include articles on fashion, on Confederate Generals, and even King Tut.
Her tenure as a writer for the Atlanta paper came to a close in 1926, mainly due to an article entitled: "Georgia's Empress and Women Soldiers", which received much criticism for writing of "strong women who did not fit the accepted standards of femininity." There were also claims of some "white supremist" views in the article as well.
So, in 1926, out of her main writing job, Peggy gave herself to becoming a full time housewife. Earlier in her young life, Peg had actually written some novels, and due to a recent ankle injury which kept her pretty much at home, she began to think along those lines.
Actually, she did still have an article written for the Atlantic Sunday Journal called: "Elizabeth Bennet's Gossip", but that too was shut down by the end of August in 1926.
John Marsh, her now 2nd husband, was becoming quite weary and frustrated as he now found himself lugging armloads of books from the local library to his home...so Peggy's mind could be occupied. Her ankle injury continued to prevent her from going anywhere for a period of time. Finally at one point John Marsh exclaims: " For God's sake Peggy, can't you write a book instead of reading thousands of them?"
So, John furthered his thought by bringing to Peggy a Remington Portable #3 Typewriter to encourage her on her literary endeavors. For the next 3 years Peggy did stay occupied, in fact she had so much manuscript she use part of it to prop up a wobbly sofa.
What was her latest idea? She was writing a novel about the Civil War era, about a young lady named Pansy O'Hara...whose name was later changed to Scarlett O'Hara. She entitled the novel..."Gone With The Wind", and was published in 1933.
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