Mary E. Britton (1815 - 1925) was an African-American physician. She attended Berea College, the first institution of higher learning in Kentucky to admit blacks. The only profession open to educated women of any race at that time was teaching, and Britto
Mary E. Britton (1815 - 1925) was an African-American physician. She attended Berea College, the first institution of higher learning in Kentucky to admit blacks. The only profession open to educated women of any race at that time was teaching, and Britton taught in segregated public schools. She wrote commentaries opposing Jim Crow laws and then turned her attention to another problem afflicting her race, the lack of adequate health care. She enrolled in the American Missionary College in Chicago and graduated with a medical degree. In 1902, she became the first black woman in Lexington to be a licensed physician. Her specialties included hydrotherapy and electrotherapy, the use of water and electricity to treat illnesses and disease. She treated patients in her home. Despite a busy medical practice, Britton remained active in civil rights and the growing women's rights movement. She retired in 1923 and died two years later at the age of 70.
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