McDougald Wikipedia Project

Emily C. McDougald Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Emily Caroline Fitten McDougald: born November 11, 1848 in Georgia, married to William Alexander McDougald, and birthed four children. Beyond being labeled a daughter, wife, and mother, McDougald was also an activist, fighting to bring voting rights to women. And yet, like most Georgia women—or women in general—who have made significant contributions within our history, representation of their own history does not exist on sites like Wikipedia.

For one of my projects for my graduate Writing and Publishing in Digital Environments course, I decided to help tackle the WikiProject Women in Red, specifically those for Georgia. During my research and descussions with fellow students, a discovery of a content gap was made. Since primary sources are not considered useful for Wikipedia, so many of these women lack the proper sources needed for articles. Thankfully, I recovered enough research for McDougald to represent her well and changed one red link to blue: Emily C. McDougald.