Grace Towns Hamilton (February 10, 1907 – June 17, 1992) was an American politician who was the first African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly.

As executive director of the Atlanta Urban League from 1943 to 1960, Hamilton was involved in issues of housing, health care, schools and voter registration within the black community.

She was 1964 co-founder of the bi-racial Partners for Progress to help government and the private sector effect compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Towns was active in civic affairs, an officer of the NAACP, and an advocate for voter registration drives in the black community.

He was born one of six children on March 5, 1870, in Albany, Georgia, to former slave Luke Towns Jr. and Mary Colt, said to be of Indian blood.

[4][5] Harriet Eleanor "Nellie" McNair had been a student of George Alexander Towns Sr., and later entered the teaching profession.

[6] In Ware Memorial Chapel on the grounds of Atlanta University, 23-year-old Grace Towns married 31-year-old Henry Cooke "Cookie" Hamilton on June 7, 1930.

While she was aware of the effect of segregation on the African-American community, Atlanta University's integrated campus had sheltered her from being a part of it.

Living in Columbus, Ohio, and working as a secretary at the YWCA brought her face-to-face with the effects of segregation and tokenism.

[10][11] Prior to her marriage, Grace Towns had taught at both Clark College and the Atlanta School of Social Work.

At the time of the marriage, Cookie Hamilton served in the capacity of both professor and dean at LeMoyne–Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee.

[13] In 1941, Cookie Hamilton accepted a position at Atlanta University, and the couple returned to their home city where Grace took advantage of her career downtime to enhance her education.

Bell left for other opportunities in 1943, civil rights attorney A.T. Walden suggested his friend Hamilton be named to fill the position.

She held this position until 1960, and under her guidance the organization's board of directors became integrated to include influential whites among the members.

In 1947, they organized the Temporary Coordinating Committee on Housing to scout out potential development areas for the black community.

Hamilton and Thompson, sometimes accompanied by others, made repeated trips to Washington D.C. to convince the Federal Housing Administration to provide insured mortgages to the black community.

In July 1950, the federally insured 452-unit High Point apartment rental complex opened as a result of the AUL's efforts.

[19] In 1944, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the exclusive white primary in Texas in the Smith v. Allwright case.

In 1946, the Supreme Court ruled in King v. Chapman that Georgia's white primary violated the rights guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

[21] In December 1947, Hamilton and the AUL issued A Report on Hospital Care of the Negro Population of Atlanta, Georgia.

The AUL's recommendation was the designation of a city hospital specific to the training and administering of health care to meet the needs of Atlanta's black citizens.

[22] Highlighting the tragedy of insufficient care available to blacks was the 1931 death of Juliette Derricotte, Dean of Women at Fisk University, following an automobile crash near Dalton, Georgia.

The report was published by Columbia University Press in 1967 under the title The Middle-Class Negro in the White Man's World.

Affiliated with the National Women's Committee on Civil Rights, the organization worked through personal visitations, correspondence and telephone calls, monitoring and encouraging compliance with the law in all sectors of government, private enterprise and society.

[29] On July 8, 1964, armed police officers arrested and jailed Hamilton on an outstanding traffic court summons.

[31] In 1965, the General Assembly reapportioned the Georgia House of Representatives, adding twenty-one seats in Fulton County.

[34] The legislature refused to seat Bond because of his endorsement of the SNCC statement criticizing United States policy during the Vietnam War.

One of her first bills was aimed at providing for the Georgia Highway Department to apply for federal matching funds to assist relocation of any resident displaced by new road construction.