Augusta Jane Evans Early years What were her early years like? She was born Augusta Jane Evans on May 8, 1835, in Columbus, Georgia,
Did she stay in Columbus for her entire childhood?
Did Augusta Jane Evans stay in Columbus for her entire childhood?
She was born Augusta Jane Evans on May 8, 1835, in Columbus, Georgia, the eldest child of the family. The area of her birth was then known as Wynnton (now MidTown). Her mother was Sarah S. Howard and her father was Matthew R. Evans. She was a descendant on her mother's side from the Howards, one of the most cultured families of Georgia. As a young girl in 19th-century America, she received little in the way of a formal education. However, she became a voracious reader at an early age.  Her father suffered bankruptcy and lost the family's Sherwood Hall property in the 1840s. He moved his family of ten from Georgia for Alabama, and scarcely ten when they moved to San Antonio, Texas, in 1845. When the Mexican-American War had ended, and everything was in a disorganized condition, consequently there were no schools of any prominence. Had her mother not been cultivated and literary, Evans could never have obtained the education which fitted her for the work she later accomplished. During the Mexican war, San Antonio was the rendezvous for the United States troops sent to assist General Zachary Taylor, and the brilliant uniforms of the soldiery, the martial music, and the exciting events that accompany war, combined with the picturesque, enchanting scenery around San Antonio, furnished an excellent theme for Evans' first novel. In 1850, at the age of fifteen, she wrote Inez: A Tale of the Alamo, a sentimental, moralistic, anti-Catholic love story. It told the story of one orphan's spiritual journey from religious skepticism to devout faith. She presented the manuscript to her father as a Christmas gift in 1854. It was published anonymously in 1855.  However, life in a frontier border town like San Antonio proved dangerous, especially with the Mexican-American War. By 1849, Evans' parents moved the family to Mobile, Alabama. She wrote her next novel, Beulah, at age 18; it was published in 1859. Beulah began the theme of female education in her novels. It sold well, selling over 22,000 copies during its first year of publication, a staggering accomplishment. It established her as Alabama's first professional author. Her family used the proceeds from her literary success to purchase Georgia Cottage on Springhill Avenue. CANNOTANSWER
scarcely ten when they moved to San Antonio, Texas, in 1845.
Rita Martinez () was a Chicana activist operating in Pueblo, Colorado. She is notable for her activism against the observance of Columbus Day in Colorado. Her efforts came to fruition in 2020, when Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill abolishing Columbus Day.

Activism
Martinez began her life as an activist in the 1970s when she worked for the newspaper La Cucaracha where she was a reporter and photographer. One of the first issues she took up was police brutality and accountability. With her husband she helped organize Pueblo's Cinco de Mayo festivities for at least 45 years.

In 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas, Martinez took part in protests against the Columbus Day parade, held in Denver, which has since been disbanded. Martinez, Esteban and Freddy "Freak" Trujillo founded the Colorado Chicano Movement archives at Colorado State University in Pueblo.

In 2020 her activism came to fruition when Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill abolishing Columbus Day and creating Mother Cabrini Day instead. From June to November 2020 she led weekly protests to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus form Mesa Junction in Pueblo, Colorado. Martinez did not live to see the statue of Columbus removed from Mesa Junction. She died on December 10, 2020, from COVID-19, after 13 days in Parkview Medical Center.

Personal life
She met her husband Jose Esteban Ortega, at La Cucaracha, the newspaper she worked for in the late 70s. Together Martinez and Esteban had three children, daughter Neva, and sons Tomas and Vicente.

References 

1955 births
2020 deaths
People from Pueblo, Colorado
Activists from Colorado
American women activists
American activists of Mexican descent
Women civil rights activists
21st-century American women Lucile Atcherson Curtis (1894-1986) was the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service. Specifically, she was the first woman appointed as a United States Diplomatic Officer or Consular Officer, in 1923; the U.S. would not establish the unified Foreign Service until 1924, at which time Diplomatic and Consular Officers became Foreign Service Officers.

Biography
Curtis, née Atcherson, was born on October 11, 1894, in Columbus, Ohio. She attended Columbus School for Girls and completed her coursework there at the age of 14.

Curtis graduated from Smith College in 1913 and later did graduate and research work at Ohio State University and the University of Chicago.

She supported women's suffrage, joining a five thousand woman march through Columbus, Ohio, in 1912 in support of a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote. She later became the first Columbus woman to join the National Women's Party and helped organize the Ohio Suffrage Association.

In 1917 Curtis volunteered overseas with the American Fund for the French Wounded; in 1918 she was transferred to its new civilian division, called the American Committee for Devastated France, which sought to rebuild eleven villages and give medical and social services. Lucile was eventually transferred to Paris to become director of personnel there for the Committee, and in December 1919, she was given the Medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise for her work.

In 1920 she became the first woman to apply to be tested to join what became the U.S. Foreign Service. Although she passed, and in 1922 President Warren G. Harding nominated her as the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service, the Senate did not approve her appointment because its members did not think it was appropriate for a young single woman to travel overseas as a diplomat. She worked in the Department of State then, mostly in the Division of Latin-American Affairs. But after women's and political groups supported her with letters and telegrams, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations recommended her appointment overseas and the Senate approved it in 1923. Lucile thus became a U.S. diplomat based in Bern, Switzerland, officially titled "third secretary of the legation" in Bern.

After serving in Switzerland, Lucile was assigned to the U.S. Legation in Panama in early 1927. In summer 1927, she wrote a letter to the legation's personnel chief asking when she would be promoted and noting that men had been promoted ahead of her; soon after this, the personnel board gave its members a bleak summary of her work, stating in part, "Her sex [is] a handicap to useful official friendships." She resigned later that year, although it was not because of her lack of promotion but because she disliked Panama and was in a serious relationship with her future husband.

In 1978, the State Department had a day honoring Lucile and diplomat Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr. Columbus, Ohio celebrated a day in her honor the same year.

Personal life
On January 6, 1928 Lucile married George Morris Curtis with whom she had two children; Charlotte Curtis and Mary Curtis Davey. Lucile Atcherson Curtis died on March 6, 1986.

Legacy
Lucile's papers are held at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.

References

American suffragists
1894 births
1986 deaths
Smith College alumni
American women diplomats
American diplomats
United States Foreign Service personnel
20th-century American women
20th-century American people
Columbus School for Girls alumni Colo (December 22, 1956 – January 17, 2017) was a western gorilla widely known as the first gorilla to be born in captivity anywhere in the world and as the oldest known gorilla in the world. Colo was born at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium to Millie Christina (mother) and Baron Macombo (father), and lived there for her entire life. She was briefly called "Cuddles" before a contest was held to officially name her. (Mrs. Howard Brannon of Zanesville, Ohio, won the contest.) Colo's name was derived from the place of her birth, Columbus, Ohio.

Life

The Columbus zoo first introduced gorillas in 1951. It was in 1956 that two gorillas first produced offspring in the zoo. The gorilla was named Colo, short for the Columbus Zoo.
After she was rejected at birth by her mother, zookeepers had to hand-raise Colo. They hand-raised her much like a human child, by dressing her in clothes and giving her bottles of formula. At the age of two years, Colo was introduced to a 19-month-old male from Africa called Bongo. Colo and Bongo had three offspring, the first on February 1, 1968, Emmy, a female. Colo and Bongo had two more offspring: Oscar, born July 18, 1969, and Toni, on December 28, 1971.

On April 25, 1979, Columbus Zoo had its first third generation birth. The infant was named Cora, short for Central Ohio Rare Ape. On January 27, 1997, Colo's great-grandson Jantu was born. A birth at the Henry Doorly Zoo made Colo a great-great-grandmother in 2003. Although Colo did not raise any of her own offspring, she reared her twin grandsons, Macombo II and Mosuba, from birth. Colo also acted as a guardian for her grandson, named J.J. after "Jungle" Jack Hanna with whom he shares a birthday.

Colo was held at the Columbus Zoo, and has been there longer than any other animal in the zoo's captive animal collection. Colo and her progeny, five of whom are still held at the Columbus Zoo, comprise about one-third of the Zoo's 17 captive gorillas as of 2015.

Colo became the oldest living gorilla in captivity following the death of 55-year-old Jenny in September 2008. Colo celebrated her 60th birthday on December 22, 2016. The Columbus Zoo announced that Colo died in her sleep on January 17, 2017.

Genealogy
Colo was a mother to three, a grandmother to 16, a great-grandmother to 12, and a great-great-grandmother to three.

See also
 Oldest apes#Gorillas

References

External links
 Colo's family tree on Flickr
 Documentary about geriatric zoo animal care through the story of Colo on her 55th birthday

Individual gorillas
1956 animal births
2017 animal deaths
Individual animals in the United States
Oldest animals