Margaret MitchellAmerican author and journalist Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was born on November 8, 1900. She received the National Book Award in 1936 for Gone with the Wind, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Margaret Mitchell was raised in a privileged and well-known political household. Her mother was Mary Isabel "Maybelle" Stephens, and her father was an attorney named Eugene Muse Mitchell. At a debutante charity ball in Atlanta in 1921, she danced the Apache and Tango. A kiss shared during the dance surprised Atlanta's elite, and as a result, she was banned from the Junior League. During World War II, Margaret Mitchell volunteered for the American Red Cross. She sewed hospital gowns and sold war bonds to earn money for the war effort. She also sent humor, inspiration, and sympathy in her letters to men serving in the military. While walking with her husband John Marsh was hit by a speeding automobile while crossing Peachtree Street near 13th Street in Atlanta. She was on her way to the theatre to see the film A Canterbury Tale on August 11, 1949. She died at age 48 at Grady Hospital five days later on August 16, 1949. Hugh Gravitt, the driver, was detained for driving while intoxicated and subsequently released on a $5,450 bail. Read More Read Less