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ETHEL STORY LINE
This "charming young lady," as the Cherokee Advance newspaper
announced her, Amanda Westbrook, moved in with the Perry family
in the early 1900s. Not yet married, nor at home with her parents,
she moved to town with her cousin to help Ethel with her seamstress
business and to strategically place herself in a "larger"
market for a husband.
Many of her Atlanta contemporaries would come to be known as women
adrift. They have moved to the industrial centers for work, but
lack the legitimacy gained through proper supervision. They live
in women's homes or on their own. Miss Westbrook, had the best of
both worlds, being in a small industrial hub where her modesty is
assured by the chaperoning eye of Ethel. Amanda, free from a possibly
over-protective father's eye, could entertain suitors, work for
her own money, and maybe most importantly, be free from any stigma
associated with the women adrift who sought factory jobs in Atlanta.
NEXT: Church |
