Margaret Mitchell was born on the 8th of November 1900 into a wealthy family in Atlanta. She spent her early years living near her maternal grandmother Annie Stephens in a Victorian house painted bright red with yellow trim located on Jackson Hill east of downtown Atlanta.
At five years old Margaret witnessed the Atlanta Race Riot unfold over four days in September 1906. Local newspapers printed unfounded rumors about assaults which prompted an angry mob of 10,000 people to assemble in streets and kill dozens while rumors ran wild that black people would burn Jackson Hill.
Her journalism career ended less than four years later with her last article appearing on the 9th of May 1926. She quit due to an ankle injury that would not heal properly after writing 129 feature articles plus 85 news stories and several book reviews for The Atlanta Journal Sunday Magazine.
Margaret Mitchell wrote the Civil War era novel whose heroine was named Pansy O'Hara before changing to Scarlett. Her husband John Marsh edited the final version which was published June 1936 winning National Book Award Fiction Most Distinguished Novel 1936 plus Pulitzer Prize Fiction 1937.
Margaret struck a speeding motorist crossing Peachtree Street thirteenth Street Atlanta husband John Marsh evening the 11th of August 1949 way see movie A Canterbury Tale died age forty-eight Grady Hospital five days later August 16 without fully regaining consciousness. Hugh Gravitt off-duty taxi driver driving personal vehicle arrested drunken driving released $5,450 bond until Mitchell's death originally charged drunken driving speeding wrong side road convicted involuntary manslaughter November 1949 sentenced eighteen months jail served almost eleven months died 1994 age seventy-four.