Meet Georgetown Changemakers and Explore our Hidden stories
Who are the people who made our community strong and vibrant over the years? Who built the crucial cornerstones of any healthy community: educating children, starting hospitals, running businesses, and fighting for measures that made Georgetown residents—all of us—happier, healthier, and more empowered to make our community better? Who helps make our community rise?
Find many more Hidden HerStories and MoreStories at this website. Thanks for visiting!
So many who made Georgetown and Williamson County rise higher are hidden from our public history—passed over and forgotten as were many who were women or people of color. Out of 200-plus historical markers in Georgetown and Williamson County, only ONE commemorates a woman, and only ONE commemorates a person of color.
Let’s bring them into our public history! Let’s shine a grateful and well-deserved spotlight on their transformational and indelible contributions!
Jessie Daniel Ames
One focus of Hidden HerStories and MoreStories is Jessie Daniel Ames, who was instrumental in organizing Williamson women to win the right to vote and who led women statewide for the League of Women Voters. Jessie also worked for racial justice in her anti-lynching campaign, and she was key to gaining many needed reforms in criminal justice, education, healthcare, and more.
Educator Mary Bailey
We’ll also learn about many other awesome people who made Georgetown excel over the years, such as Mary Bailey, an African-American educator who started a thriving daycare for children of color, and Othelia Giron, who headed “the Mexican school” and educated Latino children unable to attend the white schools. We’ll explore how a group of dedicated Georgetown women started Georgetown’s first hospital and where others started churches and enriching cultural assets. We’ll celebrate Black cowboy Bill Pickett, who gained fame around the world.
You can check out the places where brave people stood up against injustice and prejudice in our community. And take a moment to just look at our amazing downtown square, and marvel how women spearheaded the effort to save this beautiful historic and economic resource when it was dying.
Stories become more real when we explore our neighborhoods where history actually happened, taking a stroll or bike-ride or cruise-by in your car. Look for the See Our History tour guidance in various HerStories and MoreStories.
Before we get going, I’d like to do a very thankful shout-out to all who created resources and gathered and preserved historical photos that give us great info on Georgetown and Georgetown’s changemakers. Check them out under the Resources section to learn lots more cool stuff about Georgetown and Williamson County.
I want to thank each of you visiting the Hidden HerStories and MoreStories site! I encourage you to seek out hidden stories wherever you may be. Thank you for your interest about how we ALL can tell a more complete story of how we ALL rise.