Helen Douglas Mankin

Who was Helen Douglas Mankin?

Helen Douglas Mankin was an American politician; she was the second woman to represent Georgia in the United States House of Representatives.

Mankin was born September 11, 1896, in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. She grew up there, attending public and private schools. She graduated with an A.B. from Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois, in 1917. She graduated with an LL.B. from Atlanta Law School, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1920. During and after the First World War, Mankin served as an ambulance driver in the American Women’s Hospital Unit No. 1, a Red Cross unit attached to the French army in 1918 and 1919. She was there as a civilian and was not officially a military veteran.

After the war and earning her law degree, Mankin entered private practice as an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. She entered politics, and served as a Democratic member of the Georgia General Assembly from 1937 until 1946.

In 1946, Mankin was elected as a Democrat to represent the fifth congressional district of Georgia in the 79th United States Congress, filling the seat left vacant by the resignation of Robert Ramspeck. She took her seat February 12, 1946.