Born in 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia, Margaret Mitchell spent her childhood listening to stories about the Civil War. In her own words, “I heard everything except that the Confederates lost the war. When I was ten years old, it was a violent shock to hear that General Lee had been licked” (quoted in Storace, 1991: 25). Though this anecdote is, with all probability, false, it testifies to the centrality that the Civil War had in her life from a very early age. The daughter of a lawyer and amateur Civil War historian (he was president of the Atlanta Historical Society) and a suffragette, Margaret Mitchell was especially proud of her being a 100% Atlantan:

I was born in Atlanta and have lived here all my life. My parents were born in Atlanta. My grandparents had cotton plantations in the

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Citation: Gomez-Galisteo, M. Carmen. "Margaret Mitchell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4925, accessed 19 April 2024.]

4925 Margaret Mitchell 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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