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Marty Mann
Margaret Marty Mann (October 15, 1904 – July 22, 1980) was an American writer and the first woman to achieve longterm sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous.
There were several women in the early days of AA, including Florence R. of New York, Sylvia K. of Chicago, and Ethel M. of Akron, Ohio. AA co-founder Bill Wilson was Marty's sponsor. Marty wrote her story (personal experience) "Women Suffer Too" in the stories section of second through fourth editions of the Big Book of AA.
Mann organized the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) in 1944. She traveled across the U.S. educating medical professionals, legislators, businessmen, and the public on the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism.
In 1976, the NCA organized Operation Understanding where 50 people of relative fame gathered to address the social stigma surrounding alcoholism. Actors, politicians, sports people, physicians, lawyers, clergy, and more stood in the hotel ballroom and said "I am an alcoholic." The NCA hoped to reduce the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and encourage individuals and their families to get treatment. Mann hoped to raise social awareness that alcoholism is a deadly disease rather than a moral failure.
Marty Mann was born in Chicago into an upper-middle-class family, the daughter of William Henry Mann and Lillian Christy Mann. She attended private schools, traveled extensively, and was a debutante. Mann's father, once a top executive at the most prestigious department store in downtown Chicago, died of alcoholism.
Marty was a lesbian but was married briefly in her 20s. Mann was her maiden name, and she used the Mrs. title to protect her privacy. Society's prejudice against homosexuality was as strong as it was toward alcoholism during the 1940s and 1950s when she and the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism were struggling to survive.
Mann moved to England in 1930 and fell in love with photographer Barbara Ker-Seymer. The Tate Museum in London has photographs detailing their social circle. British photographer and society figure, considered one of the group designated by the tabloid press as "Bright Young People". They visited the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. She also socialized with Janet Flanner, Virginia Woolf, and Vita Sackville-West.
She worked as a magazine editor, art critic, and photojournalist for Vogue, Harper's, and Tatler. However, her alcoholism had progressed to the point where she was no longer able to hold a job, drifting in and out of homelessness while living abroad in London.
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Marty Mann
Margaret Marty Mann (October 15, 1904 – July 22, 1980) was an American writer and the first woman to achieve longterm sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous.
There were several women in the early days of AA, including Florence R. of New York, Sylvia K. of Chicago, and Ethel M. of Akron, Ohio. AA co-founder Bill Wilson was Marty's sponsor. Marty wrote her story (personal experience) "Women Suffer Too" in the stories section of second through fourth editions of the Big Book of AA.
Mann organized the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) in 1944. She traveled across the U.S. educating medical professionals, legislators, businessmen, and the public on the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism.
In 1976, the NCA organized Operation Understanding where 50 people of relative fame gathered to address the social stigma surrounding alcoholism. Actors, politicians, sports people, physicians, lawyers, clergy, and more stood in the hotel ballroom and said "I am an alcoholic." The NCA hoped to reduce the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and encourage individuals and their families to get treatment. Mann hoped to raise social awareness that alcoholism is a deadly disease rather than a moral failure.
Marty Mann was born in Chicago into an upper-middle-class family, the daughter of William Henry Mann and Lillian Christy Mann. She attended private schools, traveled extensively, and was a debutante. Mann's father, once a top executive at the most prestigious department store in downtown Chicago, died of alcoholism.
Marty was a lesbian but was married briefly in her 20s. Mann was her maiden name, and she used the Mrs. title to protect her privacy. Society's prejudice against homosexuality was as strong as it was toward alcoholism during the 1940s and 1950s when she and the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism were struggling to survive.
Mann moved to England in 1930 and fell in love with photographer Barbara Ker-Seymer. The Tate Museum in London has photographs detailing their social circle. British photographer and society figure, considered one of the group designated by the tabloid press as "Bright Young People". They visited the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. She also socialized with Janet Flanner, Virginia Woolf, and Vita Sackville-West.
She worked as a magazine editor, art critic, and photojournalist for Vogue, Harper's, and Tatler. However, her alcoholism had progressed to the point where she was no longer able to hold a job, drifting in and out of homelessness while living abroad in London.