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DRAFT ALMA WOODSEY THOMAS
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During her long life (1891-1978), Alma Woodsey Thomas thrived in a chaning milieu of social reform, educational development and artistic expression. She pursued beauty throughout her life, and her artistic career culminated in a meteoric rise in the popularity of her art. Although she was born in Georgia, studies in New York, and worked briefly in Delaware, her many years in Washington, D.C. are key to understanding her artistry and her aesthetic.

Alma's family enjoyed a long tradition of achievement. Her maternal grandparents, the Canteys, were highly respected in Fort Mitchell, Alabama. Fannie Cantey (1839-1921) was a housewife. Winter Cantey (1830-1913), a mulatto, was a veterinarian and cotton planter and raised horses to sell. He gave aid to the elderly and infirm, and built a two room school house on his plantation to teach the local children, including his own. The Cantey children attended Tuskegee Institute [[strikethrough]] and Atlanta University [[/strikethrough]]. Their daughter Amelia (1866-1938) married John Harris Thomas (1860-1942), a successful saloon owner, and moved across the Chattahoochee River to Columbus, Georgia, which blossomed because of the commerce moving up and down the broad waterways, and maintained the Southern system of segregation. On a hill, a little off from the city, in a section called "Rose Hill," for the roses which bloomed almost year round, John built a 

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