"Mary Morris Talbert"{September 17,1866-October 15,1923}

Called "the best known colored Woman in the United States,"she was among the most prominent African American of her time.She was born and raised in Oberlin,Ohio in 1866,as the only

African-American woman in her graduating class from Oberlin College in 1886,Mary received a Bachelor of Arts degree,then called an S.P. degree.She entered the field of education,becoming assistant principal of the Union High School in Little Rock,Arkansas in 1887,the highest position by an African American in the state.In 1891 she married she married William H. Talbert,moved to Buffalo,New York,and joined Buffalo's historic Michigan Avenue Baptist Church.Mary earned a degree at a time when a college education was controversial for European-American women and extremely rare for African-American women.When women's organization were segregated by race,Mary was an early advocate of women of all colors working together to advance their cause,and reminded white feminists of their obligations toward their less privileged sisters of color.Described by her peers as "the best-known colored woman in the United States,"she used her education and prodigious energies to improve the status of Black people at home and abroad.In addition to her anti-lynching and anti-racism work,Mary supported women's suffrage.In 1915 she spoke at the "Votes for Women:A Symposium by Leading Thinkers of Colored Women"in Washington,D.C.During her national and international lecture tours,Mary educated audiences about conditions in African-American communities and the need for legislation to address these conditions in African-American communities and the need for legislation to address these conditions.She was instrumental in gaining a voice for African-American women in international women's organizations of her time.As a founder of the Niagara Movement,Mary helped to launch organized civil rights activism in American.The Niagara Movement was radical enough in its brief life to both spawn and absorb controversy within the Black community,preparing the way for its successor,the NAACP.Central to the efforts of both organizations,Mary helped set the stage for the civil rights gains of the 1950s and 1960s.Her long leadership of women's clubs helped developed Black female organizations and leaders in communities around New York and the United States.Women's clubs provided a forum for African-American women's voices at a time when they had restricted opportunities in public and civil rights.In both Black and White communities,women's clubs fostered female leadership.As a historic preservation  pioneers,Mary saved the Frederick Douglasshome in Anacostia,D.C.after  other efforts had failed.