OCHLOCKNEE — A historical Grady County artist has been nominated to the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame.

Pope’s Store Museum executive director Michelle Dean said she has submitted a nomination and three letters of support for the museum’s namesake, Laura Pope Forester, to be entered into the hall of fame.

“Our hope is that she gets the nomination so that people can recognize that she truly paved the way for women a century ahead of her time,” Dean said. “It would be a great honor for south Georgia.”

Grady County commissioners voted unanimously last week to submit their own letter of support for the nomination. Commission chair Keith Moye described Forester as one of the county’s “greatest movers and shakers for the progress of humanity,” in his letter of support.

Forester “is a testament to what the Georgia Women of Achievement award is all about,” Moye wrote in his nomination letter to the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame. “As a well accomplished artist, she inspired thousands of people and citizens of our area and abroad.”

Moye said Forester’s legacy reaches beyond the confines of Grady County, writing that “she is a hero to our entire Nation and is a testament to all women, men, and children and what can be accomplished if you simply put your heart to work.

“She battled through the toughest times for women as they were considered second class citizens at the time,” Moye wrote. “She did not allow society rules, laws, or opinions to sway her commitment to justice and equality for all women.”

Florida State University art professor Jim Roche, who also submitted a letter of support, described Forester as “the first feminist outsider artist of the twentieth century.”

“She was so ahead of others in changing the ideas about what a female could or could not do, standing clearly among all her peers as being willing to venture down any creative road, often with dynamic success,” Roche wrote.

A third letter of recommendation was submitted by Lequitta Legette, a long-term Cairo resident who knew Forester personally.

The purpose of Georgia Women of Achievement is to honor women in the state’s history have made “outstanding contributions to the State of Georgia and who serve as an inspiration to present day Georgians,” according to the group’s website. To be considered for induction into the hall of fame, nominees must be native to or otherwise “clearly identified” with the State of Georgia, have made “exceptional and enduring contributions” in their respective fields, serve as an inspiration to future generations and have been deceased for at least five years.

“She fits it to the letter,” Dean said.

As many as three women are added to the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame each year in March.