HAMES, MARGIE PITTS
Margie Pitts Hames papers, 1969-1993

Restrictions on Access

Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection.

Special restrictions apply: Series 2 is closed due to privacy considerations.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Source

Gift, 1999.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Margie Pitts Hames papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Processing

Processed by Anne Thomason, Manuscript Assistant

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Biographical Note

Margie Pitts Hames practiced law in Atlanta from 1962, until her death in 1994. Born in Milton, Tennessee in 1933, Hames graduated with honors from Kittrell High School in 1951. After receiving her B.S. at Middle Tennessee State University, Hames attended Vanderbilt University School of Law where she received her J.D. in 1961. After graduation she worked with Fisher and Phillips in Atlanta on labor-management relations. After the birth of her children, Adam and Donia, she left the firm in 1968 and the following year began volunteer work for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a Ford Foundation project that worked to prevent confrontations between civil rights demonstrators and police. She opened her own firm in 1971. Hames actively engaged in cases involving abortion rights, women’s rights, school desegregation, employment discrimination, workers compensation, personal injury, social security claims, domestic relations, criminal defense, medical malpractice, defense, educational rights for gifted and disabled children, and general civil litigation. Hames served as a legal counsel for several major Atlanta abortion clinics including Atlanta Surgi Center, Hillcrest Clinic, Summit Medical Center, Midtown Hospital, and the Atlanta Center for Reproductive Health. She argued Doe v. Bolton before the United States Supreme Court that helped make abortion legal in the United States. Other important cases included Drummond v. Fulton County Department of Family and Children’s Services, in which she defended the right of a white couple to adopt a multi racial child; Sinyard v. Foote and Davies which integrated women into previously all male job classifications; Leonard v. City of Columbus in which she represented a group of Afro-American police officers attempting to establish an Afro-American Patrolman’s League; and Comstock v. Eastern Airlines in which Hames assisted with a class action suit involving employment discrimination. Hames participated in many civic activities in Atlanta including the Southern Coalition for Educational Equity; Planned Parenthood; American Civil Liberties Union; Rape Crisis Task Force; Leadership Atlanta; the Individual Rights Section of the State Bar; Women Trial Lawyers Organization; Georgia Association of Women Lawyers; and the Georgia Commission of the International Year of the Child.

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of the personal and professional papers of Margie Pitts Hames from 1969-1993. The papers consist of subject files and legal case files. The subject files contain extensive research on legal issues linked to Margie Pitts Hames’s major cases, information on her professional life, personal information, and material from her unsuccessful campaign for Georgia Supreme Court Justice in 1982. The series also contains material from Cynthia McKinney’s campaign for the House of Representatives in 1992-1993, miscellaneous correspondence, and many materials dealing with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The case files include primarily legal documents, depositions, transcripts, correspondence, notes, and evidence. The files provide much information on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cases, abortion clinics, civil rights in Atlanta, and family law. Several lawyers received their start in the legal profession by working for Hames and are well represented in the collection, including Alice Bonner, Blenna Stone, Mary Oakley, Barbara Bethune, and Timothy Wolfe.

Arrangement Note

Organized into two series: (1) Subject files and (2) Case files.