What’s in a Name?
Hester Walton Newton loved history—particularly the Civil War era and the Reconstruction period. The 41,800-square-foot Newton Building pays tribute to this true Southern woman and to one of the Grande Dames in the University’s rich and colorful history. The professor of history and social sciences joined the faculty in 1928, under the leadership of Guy Wells, when the University was known as Georgia Normal School.
and lived through two World Wars.
As troops headed to battle in the first
World War she wrote the lyrics to a
professional piece of music encouraging
Americans to enlist. The patriotic piece
was titled “Old Glory Our Shield.”
Historian and Professor Emeritus Delma Presley said Newton, a native of Oliver, Georgia, appreciated “genuine people who had something to say.” In 1941, she remained loyal to President Marvin Pittman when he clashed with, and was fired by, Georgia’s segregationist governor Eugene Talmadge. Newton was among the faculty members purged in the fallout surrounding the controversy that made national headlines as outlined in Presley’s definitive history of Georgia Southern, The Southern Century.
Newton rejoined the faculty when Pittman regained his position 18 months later. Besides teaching a variety of courses throughout her tenure, Newton was dorm director in Anderson Hall, Lewis Hall and the Health Cottage. According to Presley, the suggestion to name the academic building for the history professor came from former social science division chair Jack Averitt, Ph.D., who described her as an “admirable, independent woman.”
When the Newton Building opened in 1972, most of the humanities and social sciences, including the Departments of Criminal Justice, Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology, were on the first floor. The second floor was reserved for the History Department, while the Department of English, Philosophy, Journalism and Remedial Studies was housed on the third. As enrollment at the college increased, several of the departments moved to newer and larger spaces on campus. Today, the Newton Building is exclusively devoted to the Departments of Literature and Philosophy, and Writing and Linguistics. Newton retired after the 1952-53 school year and passed away in 1968, but her legacy, and name, live on. – Sandra Bennett