Samaria (Mitcham) Bailey is an instrumental figure in the civil rights movement.
An African-American woman, Bailey began desegregation at A.
L.
Miller Senior High School, an all-white female school located in Macon, Georgia, and was one of the first American women of African descent accepted to Mercer University.
She later became an accomplished pianist, and her story was adapted into a bestselling novel and a stage play.