Jefferson County KY

Dr. Artesia (sometimes spelled Arteshia or Articia) Gilbert Wilkerson (c1868-1904) of Louisville graduated from the Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute (later Simmons) in 1882, her BA in 1889 and earned a medical degree in 1893 from Louisville National Medical School. She participated in many different clubs, taking leadership roles in many of them. She was a founding member of the Red Cross Association to support the African American hospital in Louisville. Image supplied by Dr. Carol Mattingly, Professor Emerita of English at the University of Louisville.

Bertha Par Simmons Whedbee (1876-1960) was Louisville's first African American woman police officer. She was active in many local causes, including the Phillis Wheatley YWCA, the Urban League, and the Red Cross Association.

Martha Virginia Webster (1862-1951), an educator and community activist in Louisville. Webster was elected National Grand Princess of the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, a benevolent society formalized in 1878. After only one year working as the executive secretary of a newly built Phillis Wheatley YWCA, she was fired in 1924 by the white YWCA Board of Directors under protest from the black Committee of Management. Image snipped from page 104 of W.H.

Dr. Mary Fitzbutler Waring (c1869-1958) from Louisville, physician and educator in Chicago, editor of the National Women's Magazine, and president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. Image snipped from The History of the National Association of Colored Women’S Clubs, Inc.: A Legacy of Service. Edited by LaVonne Jackson Leslie. Xlibris Corp, 2012.