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Louisville in 1879. At the Ninth Annual
Convention of the KNEA in Danville, she gave two speeches, the second of which (on July 6, 1887), she spoke out on behalf of woman suffrage. In her speech, which later was published as "Woman's Suffrage: A Potent Agency in Public Reform," she argued that women, like men, had a right to define their own fate within the laws of the land, and that laws should be equally applied to both women and men. She wrote: "If woman is the same as man then she has the same rights, if she is distinct from man then she has a right to the ballot to help make laws for her government." In 1894 she presented "History and Science of Teaching" before the American Association of Educators of Colored Youth in Baltimore, Maryland.
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747:, the first institution of higher learning to admit blacks in the state of Kentucky. At the time the only profession offered to an educated woman of any race was teaching. While she was there as a student, she was also a part of the faculty teaching instrumental music - making her the first African-American to teach white students at Berea. After the death of both her parents (within four months of each other in 1874), Britton left Berea in order to seek employment. She taught in the Lexington School System beginning around 1876 and ending in August 1897.
720:(born 1852), Joseph (also known as Josiah, born 1856), Robert H. (born 1857), Martha (born 1860), William (born 1867) and Hattie (born 1868), Lucy (born ca. 1872), and Thomas Marshall (born 1873) — all acquired a classical education. Her father Henry was a freeborn carpenter (born around 1824) of Spanish/Indian heritage who later became a barber in Lexington and Berea. Her mother, Laura Trigg, was a gifted singer and musician who had been well-educated under the protection of her mother who was an enslaved mistress to Kentucky statesman
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163:. Britton was an original member of the Kentucky Negro Education Association, which formed in 1877. She was president of the Lexington Woman's Improvement Club and later served as a charter member of the Ladies Orphan Society which founded the Colored Orphan Industrial Home in Lexington, in 1892. During her lifetime she accomplished many things through the obstacles she faced. After teaching black children in Lexington public schools, she worked as a doctor from her home in Lexington. She specialized in
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aestheticism - reminding the legislators of the horrors of slavery and atrocities by whites that were allowed. She also decried the segregationist approach of punishing a whole group of people simply because of their shared color of skin when only one
African-American was convicted and punished for a crime committed. Britton argued on behalf of all Americans and their right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" concluding that a law based solely on race was unjust and un-American.
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was open to blacks. African-American participation in the exhibits had been very limited, leading to calls for protests. According to Karen Cotton McDaniel, Britton was curious if the
Kentucky building in the Exposition would allow her entrance. Her open defiance of white supremacy at the door of the
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in
Memphis. Thomas, her youngest brother, went on to become a successful jockey, but in 1901 at the age of 28 and banned from many racetracks he committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid. Lucy had married Will F. "Monk" Overton (a jockey whose career was also overturned by Jim Crow), but died in
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Britton was an original member of the
Kentucky Negro Education Association which was formed in 1877 to improve schools for African-American children and to make statewide changes through legislative action. She was also President of the Lexington Woman's Improvement Club. The initial goal for this
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On April 15, 1892, Britton presented a speech to the joint
Railroad Committee of the Kentucky General Assembly on behalf of a delegation of women protesting the Separate Coach bill. In her speech, she questioned the white supremacists' assumptions about their monopoly on virtue, intelligence, and
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That same year, Britton and 19 other women met at St. Paul A.M.E. Church to establish the Ladies
Orphans' Home Society. This group raised the money and created the Colored Orphan Industrial Home in Lexington, Kentucky. This organization provided food, shelter, education and training to destitute
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After leaving Berea, Britton taught in several schools in central
Kentucky and advocated for the improvement of pedagogy in African-American schools. Her paper entitled "Literary Culture of the Teacher" was presented at the second meeting of the Kentucky Negro Education Association (KNEA) in
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on April 5, 1855, the only one of her siblings for whom a record of birth can be located. She was one of seven children of Laura and Henry
Britton who lived on Mill Street, somewhere between Second and Third Streets which is now in the Gratz Park Historical District of
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At a young age
Britton was offered the best education possible for African American children in that time - attending private schools created out of subscriptions from Lexington's African-American professional class. In 1859, along with older sister
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her early thirties from acute nephritis. In 1914 the eldest sister, Susan who was the wife of a prominent African-American barber in Lexington named Benjamin Franklin, died. Dr. Britton retired from her medical practice at the age of 68 in 1923.
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Dr. Britton never married nor had children. Most of her siblings died before her, most at an early age. Martha and Joseph died in childhood sometime after 1860; Hattie shot herself in the head at the age of 23 while living with sister
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club was the "elevation of women, the enriching and betterment of home, and the encitement of proper pride and interest in race." For many years, the Club managed a Day Nursery for the children of working mothers.
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Mary E. Britton died in Lexington's St. Joseph Hospital on August 27, 1925, only a few hours after she had been admitted. The Blue Grass Medical Society published a proclamation in the
732:(later known as a gifted musician and educator, as well as Berea's first African American teacher), Britton attended a branch school in Lexington started by Mr. William H. Gibson of
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History of the United brothers of friendship and Sisters of the mysterious ten: in two parts ; a Negro order ; organized August 1, 1861, in the city of Louisville, Ky
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811:. After about a year, she built home and office at 545 North Limestone Street (fronting Rand Avenue) where she practiced for over twenty years.
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and took classes in Chicago, graduating in 1902. She returned home and became the first African-American woman licensed to practice medicine in
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See more about Gibson's public career in Louisville and the branch schools he opened in 1859 in Lexington and Frankfort, p. 69:
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Kentucky exhibit—and subsequent "humiliation, indignation and other strains she experienced" was highly publicized.
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Public art portray of Britton located at the intersection of Third St, and Elm Tree Lane in Lexington KY.
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Byars, Lauretta Flynn (1996). "Mary Elizabeth Britton (1858 - 1925)". In Smith, Jessie Carney (ed.).
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A middle school under construction in Lexington KY to be opened in 2025 is named in her honor.
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McDaniel, Karen Cotton (Spring 2013). "Mary Ellen Britton: A Potent Agent for Public Reform".
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Britton, Mary E. (July 22, 1887). "Woman's Suffrage: A Potent Agency in Public Reforms".
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Her writings on moral and social reform can be found in local newspapers such as the
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and massage; and, she was officially granted her license to practice medicine in
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1223:. Hutchins Library Highlights: The Official Blog for Hutchins Library at
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In 1893 Britton tested whether the grand "White City" in Chicago for the
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in 1902, making her the first woman doctor to be licensed in Lexington.
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872:(August 30, 1925) describing their esteem for her work and character.
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Lexington's Colored Orphan Industrial Home: Building for the Future
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Biographical Sketches of Prominent Negro Men and Women of Kentucky
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1134:"Mary E. Britton Middle School - Fayette County Public Schools"
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First African-American female physician in Lexington, Kentucky
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orphans and elderly, homeless women until it closed in 1988.
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where Laura Britton was hired as a matron at Berea College.
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to which she belonged. She attended classes there with the
1071:. Lexington, Kentucky: The Standard Print. pp. 18–19.
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799:—the strategies and health principles advocated by the
1261:"Mary Ellen Britton: A Potent Agent for Public Reform"
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724:. Laura had been emancipated at the age of sixteen.
1278:"African-Americans & the Struggle for Equality"
906:. Lexington, Kentucky: Hitchcock and Searles. 1859.
932:The Griot: The Journal of African American Studies
879:and Julia's sons, and she gave her library to the
775:She resigned from teaching in 1897 to work at the
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964:. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc. pp. 55–56.
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1263:. H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online
1042:"Kentucky Negro Educational Association (KNEA)"
982:. Printed by the Bradley & Gilbert company.
1030:. Lexington, Kentucky: I.B. Bold Publications.
96:American Missionary Medical College of Chicago
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1241:"Mary Britton Was A Woman Ahead Of Her Time"
875:She willed most of her estate to her sister
743:From 1871 to 1874, Mary E. Britton attended
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1259:McDaniel, Karen Cotton (December 5, 2015).
1084:Notable Kentucky African Americans Database
1046:Notable Kentucky African Americans Database
831:—she wrote a regular women's column in the
1299:. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. p. 125.
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1361:19th-century African-American physicians
1280:. Kentucky African American Encyclopedia
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835:(signed "Meb"). She also wrote for the
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815:Other accomplishments and attributions
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16:African-American physician (1855–1925)
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996:. womeninkentucky.com. Archived from
962:Notable Black American Women, Book II
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363:Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division
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779:in Michigan where she learned about
769:World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
1219:Apbasova, Sona (23 February 2014).
1094:Mooney, Katherine C. (2014-05-19).
994:"Women in Kentucky-Health/Medicine"
805:American Medical Missionary College
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1048:. University of Kentucky Libraries
450:Maranatha Volunteers International
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1401:American women's rights activists
1371:African-American women physicians
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527:Three Angels Broadcasting Network
1366:19th-century American physicians
1239:Eblen, Tom (February 14, 2012).
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904:Lexington 1859-60 City Directory
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1381:American Seventh-day Adventists
1376:American civil rights activists
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707:Mary Ellen Britton was born as
512:Loma Linda Broadcasting Network
470:Seventh-day Adventist education
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1026:Byars, Lauretta Flynn (1995).
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383:Southern Asia-Pacific Division
358:Northern Asia-Pacific Division
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1082:Britton, Thomas M., Sr. "Tom"
1013:The American Catholic Tribune
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1386:African-American suffragists
1100:. Harvard University Press.
881:Seventh-day Adventist Church
801:Seventh-day Adventist Church
736:. The family later moved to
427:List of Ellen White writings
393:West-Central Africa Division
333:East-Central Africa Division
139:(1855–1925) was an American
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1356:African-American activists
976:William H. Gibson (1897).
829:Lexington Daily Transcript
825:Lexington American Citizen
288:Pre-Second Advent Judgment
1426:Suffragists from Kentucky
1396:American women physicians
1293:Wilkinson, Doris (1992).
849:American Catholic Tribune
480:Colleges and universities
179:Background and early life
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1391:American women educators
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1245:Lexington Herald Leader
777:Battle Creek Sanitarium
388:Trans-European Division
368:South American Division
353:North American Division
348:Inter-European Division
343:Inter-American Division
298:Conditional immortality
243:1888 General Conference
74:Lexington, Kentucky, US
1121:Interstitial nephritis
1067:Johnson, W.D. (1897).
709:a free person of color
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378:Southern Asia Division
373:South Pacific Division
273:Three Angels' Messages
263:28 Fundamental Beliefs
23:Dr. Mary Ellen Britton
1421:Writers from Kentucky
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1406:Berea College alumni
1211:United States portal
734:Louisville, Kentucky
238:Great Disappointment
1169:Christianity portal
877:Julia Britton Hooks
809:Lexington, Kentucky
751:Professional career
730:Julia Britton Hooks
714:Lexington, Kentucky
637:Samuele Bacchiocchi
627:Herbert E. Douglass
582:James Caleb Jackson
465:Medical Cadet Corps
173:Lexington, Kentucky
161:Lexington, Kentucky
83:Cove Haven Cemetery
52:Lexington, Kentucky
841:Indianapolis World
722:Thomas F. Marshall
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622:Edward Heppenstall
421:Signs of the Times
338:Euro-Asia Division
323:General Conference
137:Mary Ellen Britton
1276:Smith, Gerald L.
1221:"Mary E. Britton"
837:Cleveland Gazette
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