Items in the Atlanta History Center exhibit relating to Leah Ward Sears (center) are on display in the Atlanta History Center exhibit in the Swan House..

Leah Ward Sears has made history, again.

Sears became the first woman justice—and the youngest—on the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1992. 

She is featured in a new Atlanta History Center exhibit that commemorates the upcoming 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. The exhibit also documents how women have gained and used political power since then.

The exhibit, "Any Great Change: The Centennial of the 19th Amendment," opened Aug. 16 and will run through January 2021. The title references a quotation by suffragist and abolitionist Lucretia Coffin Mott who in 1953 said, "Any great change must expect opposition." Congress passed the 19th Amendment in 1919, and it was ratified Aug. 18, 1920.

Sears' robe and other memorabilia from her career on the bench are displayed in the latter part of the exhibit, which looks at Georgia women in politics after gaining the vote, both as elected officials and organizers. A portrait of Sears in her judicial robe quotes her saying, "I have attained in my life what was, when I was born, an unattainable goal."

Now a partner at Smith Gambrell & Russell, Sears was appointed to the Supreme Court bench at age 36 by Gov. Zell Miller. Four years earlier, she was the first African American woman to become a Fulton County Superior Court judge.

Sears continued to be reelected to the Supreme Court bench. That included several contested races. The first was in 1992 against Judge Steven Boswell of Clayton County Superior Court. Sears' victory made her the first woman elected statewide in a contested Georgia election. Another was a hotly contested race in 2004 against an opponent, Grant Brantley, who was backed by the Georgia Christian Coalition and the Georgia Republican Party.

"I am honored to be included among the women who impacted Georgia through my service as an elected jurist," Sears said in a statement.   

Sears served as the Supreme Court's chief justice from 2005 until she retired in 2009 and returned to private practice. 

While on the bench, she established the Committee on Civil Justice to provide access to justice for low-income and unrepresented Georgians and the Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law to better protect families. 

At Smith Gambrell, Sears handles appellate matters, serves as a mediator and arbitrator and advises on internal investigations and other sensitive matters. She continues to take an active role in civic life. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tapped her last spring to chair the new Atlanta Task Force for the Promotion of Public Trust. 

"Any Great Change" is housed at the Swan House, now owned by the Atlanta History Center. The exhibit also spotlights the Swan House's original owners, Emily MacDougald and her daughter Emily Inman, who were both notable suffragettes. MacDougald was the president of the Equal Suffrage Party of Georgia, and Inman participated in Atlanta suffrage parades. 

The exhibit's lead curator, Jessica VanLanduyt, said in a statement that the exhibit acknowledges that the struggle for voting rights has continued into the present for women and people of color. "The woman suffrage movement is one of many voting rights struggles in the nation's history," VanLanduyt said. "Voting secures many of the key benefits of a democratic process: I want to have a say. I want representatives that reflect my values and me. I want laws to ensure my equality."  

The major funder for the "Any Great Change" exhibit is Emily Bourne Grigsby, a pioneering lawyer in her own right. Grigsby earned a law degree in 1982, at age 60, from the Woodrow Wilson College of Law and went on to practice as an arbitrator and mediator. Grigsby had already earned a master's degree in city planning from Georgia Tech in 1975 after a first career modeling clothing for Rich's Department Store. She has also been a painter for more than 30 years.

This story has been corrected to reflect that Sears was 36 when appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court and that she ran several contested judicial races, not just one. Also, the exhibit runs until January 2021.