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'''Margaret Marty Mann''' (October 15, 1904 – July 22, 1980) Born in Chicago, Illinois. Marty is considered the first women with long term sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill Wilson was her sponsor and she was a founding member of [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] (AA). Marty wrote the chapter "Women Suffer Too" in the second through fourth editions of the ''[[AA Big Book|Big Book]] of AA''.
'''Margaret Marty Mann''' (October 15, 1904 – July 22, 1980) Born in Chicago, Illinois. Marty is considered the first women with long term sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill Wilson was her sponsor and she was a founding member of [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] (AA). Marty wrote the chapter "Women Suffer Too" in the second through fourth editions of the ''[[AA Big Book|Big Book]] of AA''.
In 1944 Marty founded The National Council on Alcoholism and traveled across the U.S. educating medical professionals legislators, businessmen and the public to the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism. Found in ‘Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann’ p 164.
In 1944 Marty founded The National Council on Alcoholism and traveled across the U.S. educating medical professionals legislators, businessmen and the public to the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Sally.|first=Brown,|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1089978025|title=A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann : the First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous.|date=2011|publisher=Hazelden|isbn=978-1-61649-141-3|oclc=1089978025}}</ref>
In 1976 the NCOA organized Operation Understanding where 50 celebrities and professionals gathered to address the social stigma surrounding alcoholism. Actors, politicians, sports legends, physicians, lawyers, clergy and more stood up in the hotel ballroom and said "I am an alcoholic." The NCOA hoped to reduce the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and encourage individuals and their family to get treatment. Marty hoped to raise social awareness that alcoholism is not a moral weakness but a deadly disease.
In 1976 the NCOA organized Operation Understanding where 50 celebrities and professionals gathered to address the social stigma surrounding alcoholism. Actors, politicians, sports legends, physicians, lawyers, clergy and more stood up in the hotel ballroom and said "I am an alcoholic." The NCOA hoped to reduce the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and encourage individuals and their family to get treatment. Marty hoped to raise social awareness that alcoholism is not a moral weakness but a deadly disease.

Sylvia K. was another AA member to achieve long-term sobriety.<ref>''Key Players in AA History''. Bob K p.204.</ref>
Marty and Sylvia were reportedly the first lesbian members of Alcoholics Anonymous. <ref>Brown, David. ''A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann: The First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous''. Center City, Hazelden, 2001, pp. 72, 217.</ref>


==Background==
==Background==
Marty Mann came from an upper middle class family in Chicago. She attended private schools, traveled extensively, and was a debutante. The social circle in which she moved was a fast-living one and Mann was known for her capacity to drink without apparent effect (often a sign of alcoholism). She married into a wealthy New Orleans family; when in her late 20s, due to financial reverses, she had to go to work, her social and family connections made it easy for her to launch a career in public relations.
Marty Mann came from an upper middle class family in Chicago. 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 Mann was married briefly in her 20s but was a lesbian for the rest of her life. 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. <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Flynn|first=William R.|date=2002-11-01|title=A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann: The First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous|url=https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.11.1950-a|journal=American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=159|issue=11|pages=1950–a|doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.159.11.1950-a|issn=0002-953X}}</ref>
Mann's drinking grew to the point where it endangered not only her business but her life, including at least one suicide attempt. In 1939, her psychiatrist Dr. [[Harry Tiebout]] gave her a manuscript of the book ''Alcoholics Anonymous'', and persuaded her to attend her first AA meeting (at the time there were only two AA groups in the entire United States). Despite several [[relapse]]s, Mann became sober by 1960 and remained so for the rest of her life.


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. <ref>{{Cite web|last=Tate|title=‘Photograph album, Toulon’, Barbara Ker-Seymer, [August] 1931 – Tate Archive|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/items/tga-974-5-2/ker-seymer-photograph-album-toulon|access-date=2021-03-18|website=Tate|language=en-GB}}</ref> British photographer and society figure, considered one of the group designated by the tabloid press as '[[Bright Young People]]'.<ref>{{Citation|title=Barbara Ker-Seymer|date=2021-01-02|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Barbara_Ker-Seymer&oldid=997742366|work=Wikipedia|language=en|access-date=2021-03-18}}</ref> They visited the Paris salon of [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Alice B. Toklas]]. She also socialized with [[Janet Flanner]], [[Virginia Woolf|Virgina Wolfe]] and [[Vita Sackville-West|Vita Sackville-West.]]<ref name=":0" />
Mann's father, once a top executive at the most prestigious department store in downtown Chicago, died of alcoholism.

Her alcoholism escalated and she spent 6 months in a London Hospital after a second suicide attempt. <ref name=":0" /> She was encouraged to return home to America by her friends. She quickly became a charity patient at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She transferred to Blythewood Sanitarium and in1939, her psychiatrist Dr. [[Harry Tiebout]] gave her a pre-publication manuscript of the book [[The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous)|''Alcoholics Anonymous'',]] and persuaded her to attend her first AA meeting. This meeting took place at the home of Bill and Lois Wilson at 152 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name=":0" />

Marty was romantically involved with Priscilla Peck for 40 years. Priscilla was an Art Editor at [[Vogue (magazine)]] for 25 years. <ref name=":0" />


==Encouraging a change in viewpoint==
==Encouraging a change in viewpoint==
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==Legacy==
==Legacy==
Marty Mann wrote the following books:

Primer on Alcoholism<ref>{{Cite book|last=1904-|first=Mann, Marty,|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/16485340|title=Primer on alcoholism|date=1979|publisher=Gollancz|isbn=0-575-02661-8|oclc=16485340}}</ref>

Marty Mann's New Primer on Alcoholism<ref>{{Cite book|last=1904-|first=Mann, Marty,|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/19414966|title=Marty Mann's New primer on alcoholism : how people drink, how to recognize alcoholics, and what to do about them.|date=1981|publisher=Henry Holt|isbn=0-8050-0551-X|oclc=19414966}}</ref>

Marty Mann Answers Your Questions about Alcoholism.<ref>{{Cite book|last=1904-|first=Mann, Marty,|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/7518862|title=Marty Mann answers your questions about drinking and alcoholism.|date=1981|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|isbn=0-03-081857-5|oclc=7518862}}</ref>

Mann was instrumental in the founding of [[High Watch Recovery Center|High Watch Farm]], the world's first recovery center founded on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.<ref name="Hopkins">{{cite book|last1=Harley|first1=Gail|title=Emma Curtis Hopkins: Forgotten Founder of New Thought|date=2002|publisher=Syracuse University Press|location=Syracuse University|isbn=0-8156-2933-8|page=130}}</ref>
Mann was instrumental in the founding of [[High Watch Recovery Center|High Watch Farm]], the world's first recovery center founded on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.<ref name="Hopkins">{{cite book|last1=Harley|first1=Gail|title=Emma Curtis Hopkins: Forgotten Founder of New Thought|date=2002|publisher=Syracuse University Press|location=Syracuse University|isbn=0-8156-2933-8|page=130}}</ref>


Revision as of 04:48, 18 March 2021

Margaret Marty Mann (October 15, 1904 – July 22, 1980) Born in Chicago, Illinois. Marty is considered the first women with long term sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill Wilson was her sponsor and she was a founding member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Marty wrote the chapter "Women Suffer Too" in the second through fourth editions of the Big Book of AA. In 1944 Marty founded The National Council on Alcoholism and traveled across the U.S. educating medical professionals legislators, businessmen and the public to the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism.[1] In 1976 the NCOA organized Operation Understanding where 50 celebrities and professionals gathered to address the social stigma surrounding alcoholism. Actors, politicians, sports legends, physicians, lawyers, clergy and more stood up in the hotel ballroom and said "I am an alcoholic." The NCOA hoped to reduce the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and encourage individuals and their family to get treatment. Marty hoped to raise social awareness that alcoholism is not a moral weakness but a deadly disease.

Background

Marty Mann came from an upper middle class family in Chicago. 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 Mann was married briefly in her 20s but was a lesbian for the rest of her life. 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. [2]

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. [3] British photographer and society figure, considered one of the group designated by the tabloid press as 'Bright Young People'.[4] They visited the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. She also socialized with Janet Flanner, Virgina Wolfe and Vita Sackville-West.[1]

Her alcoholism escalated and she spent 6 months in a London Hospital after a second suicide attempt. [1] She was encouraged to return home to America by her friends. She quickly became a charity patient at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She transferred to Blythewood Sanitarium and in1939, her psychiatrist Dr. Harry Tiebout gave her a pre-publication manuscript of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, and persuaded her to attend her first AA meeting. This meeting took place at the home of Bill and Lois Wilson at 152 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, New York.[1]

Marty was romantically involved with Priscilla Peck for 40 years. Priscilla was an Art Editor at Vogue (magazine) for 25 years. [1]

Encouraging a change in viewpoint

In 1945, Mann became inspired with the desire to eliminate the stigma and ignorance regarding alcoholism and to encourage the "disease model" which viewed it as a medical/psychological problem, not a moral failing. She helped start the Yale School of Alcohol Studies (now at Rutgers), and organized the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA), now the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence or NCADD.

She believed alcoholism runs in the family, and education of the disease was essential.

Three ideas formed the basis of her message:

  1. Alcoholism is a disease and the alcoholic a sick person.
  2. The alcoholic can be helped and is worth helping.
  3. Alcoholism is a public health problem and therefore a public responsibility.[5]

Marty Mann and R. Brinkley Smithers funded Dr. E. Morton (Bunky) Jellinek’s initial 1946 study on Alcoholism. Dr. Jellinek's study was based on a narrow, selective study of a hand-picked group of members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) who had returned a self-reporting questionnaire.

In the 1950s, Edward R. Murrow included her in his list of the 10 greatest living Americans. Her book New Primer on Alcoholism was published in 1958.

Legacy

Marty Mann wrote the following books:

Primer on Alcoholism[6]

Marty Mann's New Primer on Alcoholism[7]

Marty Mann Answers Your Questions about Alcoholism.[8]

Mann was instrumental in the founding of High Watch Farm, the world's first recovery center founded on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.[9]

In 1980, Mann suffered a stroke at home and died soon after.[10] Many histories of Alcoholics Anonymous make only passing mention of Mann, perhaps because NCEA had no formal relationship to AA. However, Mann's public admission of her own alcoholism, her successful experience with AA, and her encouragement of others — especially women — to get help contributed substantially to AA's growth.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Sally., Brown, (2011). A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann : the First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous. Hazelden. ISBN 978-1-61649-141-3. OCLC 1089978025.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Flynn, William R. (2002-11-01). "A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann: The First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous". American Journal of Psychiatry. 159 (11): 1950–a. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.11.1950-a. ISSN 0002-953X.
  3. ^ Tate. "'Photograph album, Toulon', Barbara Ker-Seymer, [August] 1931 – Tate Archive". Tate. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  4. ^ "Barbara Ker-Seymer", Wikipedia, 2021-01-02, retrieved 2021-03-18
  5. ^ Roizen, Ron. "In Search of the Mysterious Mrs. Marty Mann."
  6. ^ 1904-, Mann, Marty, (1979). Primer on alcoholism. Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-02661-8. OCLC 16485340. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ 1904-, Mann, Marty, (1981). Marty Mann's New primer on alcoholism : how people drink, how to recognize alcoholics, and what to do about them. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-0551-X. OCLC 19414966. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ 1904-, Mann, Marty, (1981). Marty Mann answers your questions about drinking and alcoholism. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 0-03-081857-5. OCLC 7518862. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Harley, Gail (2002). Emma Curtis Hopkins: Forgotten Founder of New Thought. Syracuse University: Syracuse University Press. p. 130. ISBN 0-8156-2933-8.
  10. ^ Brown, Sally. "Marty Mann and the Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous" Archived 2006-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
  • Marty Mann's New Primer on Alcoholism, reviewed by John Philip, [1]
  • Marty Mann Papers at Syracuse University [2]
  • Marty Mann's Story Women Suffer Too, Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.) Online,
  • [3]
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