Sweet Auburn in Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)

Alice Dugged Cary

Educator/Librarian/Social Activist

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, November 20, 2021

1. Alice Dugged Cary Marker

Inscription. A native of Indiana, Alice Dugged had an impressive educational experience: Wilberforce University, the University of Chicago, Howard University, Clark College, and Morris Brown College. In 1885 she married Jefferson Cary and the couple moved to Atlanta. Cary became the first female principal of Mitchell Street School and served as the principal of the Normal Department (the education department) of Morris Brown College. She led a successful battle to open an Atlanta public library to African Americans and, in 1921, became the first librarian of the Auburn Avenue Branch of the Carnegie Library.

Alice Dugged Cary played an instrumental role in the women's club movement. Her affiliations included the Georgia Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, the local YMCA Board, the State Temperance Union, the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society, and Zeta Phi Beta sorority. She died in 1941 on the campus of Morris Brown College, where she had served as both a faculty member and an administrator.

Sweet Auburn Area Improvement Association &
Corporation for Olympic Development in Atlanta
Brian R. Owens, Sculptor

Erected 1996 by Sweet Auburn Area Improvement Association • Corporation for Olympic Development in Atlanta.

Topics. This historical marker is listed

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

in these topic lists: Communications • Education • Women. A significant historical year for this entry is 1921.

Location. 33° 45.328′ N, 84° 22.611′ W. Marker is in Atlanta, Georgia, in Fulton County. It is in Sweet Auburn. It is at the intersection of Auburn Avenue NE and Hilliard Street NE, on the right when traveling east on Auburn Avenue NE. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Atlanta GA 30303, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Georgia’s Piedmont.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Deep South.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: A different marker also named Auburn Avenue Branch (here, next to this marker); Religious and Fraternal Institutions (a few steps from this marker); Prince Hall Masonic Building (a few steps from this marker); Dobbs Plaza (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Soul Food Row (about 300 feet away); Wheat Street Baptist Church (about 300 feet away); Haugabrooks Funeral Home (about 400 feet away); Cox Brothers Funeral (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Atlanta.

Another marker is no longer nearby. Auburn Avenue Branch, Carnegie Library (was here, next to this marker but has been confirmed missing).

Also see . . . Alice Dugged Cary.

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, November 20, 2021

2. Alice Dugged Cary Marker

Cast bronze relief sculpture by Brian R. Owens.

Wikipedia entry on the noted educator and librarian. (Submitted on November 22, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

Alice Dugged Cary image. Click for full size.

Unknown / Public domain, circa 1906

3. Alice Dugged Cary

The educator as pictured in Sara J. Duncan's "Progressive Missions in the South and Addresses with Illustrations and Sketches of Missionary Workers and Ministers and Bishops' Wives," 1906.

Credits. This page was last revised on February 8, 2023. It was originally submitted on November 21, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 704 times since then and 98 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on November 21, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 2, 3. submitted on November 22, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.