Oral history interview with Frances Pauley, July 18, 1974

Frances Pauley was born in Decatur, Georgia, in 1905, and grew up there. Pauley attended Agnes Scott College during the 1920s and graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1927. During the Depression, Pauley helped to establish a free medical clinic in Dekalb County, Georgia. Her work with the poor during these years foreshadowed her later work in the civil rights movement. During this time, Pauley also became increasingly involved with and interested in issues of public education and school integration. In 1945, she became the president of the League of Women Voters in Dekalb County before becoming the organization's state president. During the 1940s and 1950s, Pauley and the League battled against former governor Eugene Talmadge's efforts to abolish public schools in an effort to uphold segregation in education. In 1960, Pauley became director of the Georgia Council on Human Relations, an offshoot of the Southern Regional Council. Increasingly advocating the importance of African American leadership and interracial organization in the civil rights movement, Pauley worked closely with local civil rights groups, including the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In particular, she describes her involvement in civil rights activism in Newton, Georgia, and in Albany, Georgia.