| November 8, 1900 |
Author Margaret Mitchell, who penned "Gone With The Wind" is born, Atlanta, GA
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Margaret Mitchell |
| October 16, 1918 |
Clifford West Henry dies following the during the first major American offensive of World War I. He is the boyfriend of Margaret Mitchell
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Margaret Mitchell |
| September 2, 1922 |
Margaret Mitchell marries Red Upshaw. The marriage will end in a divorce.
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Margaret Mitchell |
| June 15, 1925 |
Margaret Mitchell marries John Marsh.
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Margaret Mitchell |
| August 1, 1935 |
Margaret Mitchell signs contract with MacMillen
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Margaret Mitchell |
| January 22, 1936 |
Margaret Mitchell completes the final revision of Gone With The Wind
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Gone With The Wind
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Margaret Mitchell |
| May 19, 1936 |
Gone With The Wind is published.
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Gone With The Wind
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Margaret Mitchell |
| May 21, 1936 |
Margaret Mitchell assigns MacMillen the right to sell Gone With The Wind to a production studio
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Gone With The Wind
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Margaret Mitchell |
| June 30, 1936 |
Gone With The Wind hits the bookstores
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Gone With The Wind
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Margaret Mitchell |
| May 3, 1937 |
Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize. The award ceremony is later in the month.
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Margaret Mitchell |
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Gone With The Wind
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| December 15, 1939 |
Atlanta is the site for the premiere of "Gone With The Wind," the classic American romance
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Gone With The Wind
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Margaret Mitchell |
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Atlanta, Georgia (1900-2000) |
| August 11, 1949 |
After enjoying drinks at the Atlanta Women's Club Margaret Mitchell and her husband John Marsh cross Peachtree Street at 13th Street to a movie theater showing "Canterbury Tales." She is hit by a speeding taxi whose driver is drunk.
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Margaret Mitchell |
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Atlanta, Georgia (1900-2000) |
| August 16, 1949 |
Margaret Mitchell pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. She is later buried at Oakland Cemetery.
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Margaret Mitchell |
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Oakland Cemetery |
| May 16, 1997 |
Margaret Mitchell house, where the author lived as she penned Gone With The Wind, is dedicated and opens to the public. |
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Margaret Mitchell |
Diminutive Margaret Mitchell was born into a family steeped in history. He father, himself a historian, taught young "Peggy" to love the history of the South. Mitchell would later exclaim that she was surprised when she learned the South had lost the Civil War. As she prepared to journey to prestigious Smith College in Massachusetts she met Clifford Henry, an Ashley Wilkes-type character whom she fell in love with. On the first day of the first great American offensive in The Great War (World War I), Henry fell to shrapnel from a German bomb.
Her first husband, Red Upshaw beat her repeatedly. Mitchell claimed that Upshaw sexually assaulted her after their divorce. Her life calmed down after marrying John Marsh, who worked for Georgia Power in the public relations department. Early in their married life Mitchell began work on "Gone With The Wind," supposedly basing characters on people in her life. Ashley Wilkes was modeled after boyfriend Clifford Henry. It is said that the character of Rhett Butler was based on Red Upshaw. While no one will ever know, this is probably not true. Rhett was a combination of historical and real people.
A brief visit by Upshaw in 1932 forced Margaret to flee to Gainesville, Georgia. During this time Mitchell was working on revising Gone With The Wind, preparing it for publication.
When the book hit the stores Mitchell became an instant celebrity, a fame she did not seek and did not want. With the outbreak of World War II she volunteered to work with the Red Cross.
