The Poppy Lady Georgia Historical Marker

Moina Belle Michael (August 15, 1869 – May 10, 1944) was an American

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

and

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

who conceived the idea of using poppies as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Early life

Michael was born in 1869 and lived on what is now known as 3698 Moina Michael Road in Good Hope, in

Walton County, Georgia Walton County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 83,768. It is located about 30 miles east of the state capital, the city of Atlanta. Monroe is the county ...

. She was the eldest daughter and second of the seven children of John Marion Michael, a Confederate veteran of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

, and Alice Sherwood Wise. She was distantly related to General

Francis Marion Brigadier-General Francis Marion ( 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the Swamp Fox, was an American military officer, planter and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the Ameri ...

on her father's side, and the Wise family of Virginia state governors on her mother's side. Both sides of her family had

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

ancestry, with origins in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

and

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

respectively. Her family was wealthy and owned a cotton plantation until 1898. She was educated at Braswell Academy in Morgan County, and the Martin Institute in

Jefferson, Georgia Jefferson is a city in Jackson County, Georgia, United States. The population was 9,432 at the 2010 census, up from 3,825 at the 2000 census. As of 2019 the estimated population was 12,032. The city is the county seat of Jackson County. History ...

. She became a teacher in 1885, initially in Good Hope and then in Monroe, Georgia. She taught at the

Lucy Cobb Institute The Lucy Cobb Institute was a girls' school on Milledge Avenue in Athens, Georgia, United States. It was founded by Thomas R.R. Cobb, and named in honor of his daughter, who had died of scarlet fever at age 14, shortly before construction was com ...

and

Normal School A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

, both located in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the st ...

. She studied at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in 1912–13.

First World War

Michael visited Europe in June and July 1914. She was in Germany when the First World War broke out in August 1914, and travelled to Rome to return home to the US. In Rome, she assisted around 12,000 US tourists to seek passage back across the Atlantic. She returned to the US on the RMS ''Carpathia'' and returned to teaching at Normal School in Athens, Georgia. She was a professor at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

when the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917. She took a leave of absence from her work and volunteered to assist in the New York-based training headquarters for overseas

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

workers.

Remembrance poppy

On 9 November 1918, inspired by the Canadian

John McCrae Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918) was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I, and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He is best known for writing the ...

battlefront-theme poem "

In Flanders Fields "In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend an ...

", she wrote a poem in response called "

We Shall Keep the Faith "We Shall Keep the Faith" is a poem penned by Moina Michael in November 1918. She received inspiration for this poem from "In Flanders Fields". The "poppy red" refers to ''Papaver rhoeas ''Papaver rhoeas'', with common names including common ...

". In tribute to the opening lines of McCrae's poem – "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row," – Michael vowed to always wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in the war. After the war was over, Michael returned to the University of Georgia and taught a class of disabled servicemen. Realizing the need to provide financial and occupational support for these servicemen, she pursued the idea of selling silk poppies as a means of raising funds to assist disabled veterans. In 1921, her efforts resulted in the poppy being adopted as a symbol of remembrance for war veterans by the

American Legion Auxiliary The American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) is a separate entity from the American Legion that shares the same values. Composed of spouses, mothers, daughters, granddaughters, and sisters of American war veterans. Founded in 1919, the ALA is dedicated t ...

, and by

Earl Haig Earl Haig is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. During the First World War, he served as commander of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in France and Be ...

's British Legion Appeal Fund (later

The Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in n ...

) later that year.

Later life

Known as the "Poppy Lady" for her humanitarian efforts, Michael received numerous awards during her lifetime. She retired from the University of Georgia in 1934, and published an autobiography in 1941, ''The Miracle Flower: The Story of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy''. In 1944, a

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost constr ...

constructed in Georgia was named SS ''Moina Michael'' in her honor. In 1948, four years after her death, the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

issued a commemorative 3-cent stamp honoring her life's achievement. In 1969, the Georgia General Assembly named a section of U.S. Highway 78 the Moina Michael Highway. In 1999 she was named to the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame. She was a member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promot ...

and the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

References

External links