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SERIES 1 · THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

Series 1 · Education & Ideas

Explore educators, scholars, schools and the ideas that shaped communities.

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9,959 matching cards · 24 cards per page

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BIOGRAPHY
Education & Scholarship

Mary L. Smith

1936–2020

Mary Levi Smith (née Mary Levi; 1936 – November 28, 2020) was an American educator who served as the 11th president of Kentucky State University (KSU) from 1991 to 1998. She was the first female president of KSU and the second woman to lead a state…

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BIOGRAPHY
Medicine & Health

Mary Lee Mills

1912–2010

Mary Lee Mills (August 1912 – February 2, 2010) was an American nurse. Born into a family of eleven children, she attended the Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing and graduated in a nursing degree and became a registered nurse. After working as a midwife,…

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BIOGRAPHY
Education

Mary Lee Tate

1893–1939

Mary Lee Tate (1893–1939), was an American visual artist and teacher. She was known for her landscape and decorative paintings, which exhibited nationally. Tate was African American, and had also worked as an art teacher at local Black schools in…

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BIOGRAPHY
Science & Inventions

Mary Logan Reddick

1914–1966

Mary Logan Reddick (December 31, 1914 – October 1, 1966) was an American neuroembryologist who earned her PhD from Radcliffe College, Harvard University in 1944. She was a full professor, first at Morehouse College, and then at the University of Atlanta…

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BIOGRAPHY
Music

Mary Lou Williams

1910–1981

Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and LP versions).…

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BIOGRAPHY
Medicine & Health

Mary Louise Brown

1868–1927

Mary Louise Brown (1861 – March 9, 1927) was a physician and teacher who devoted over 25 years of her life to servicing the African-American community of Washington D.C. Brown was the first African-American woman to receive a wartime medical commission…

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BIOGRAPHY
Visual Arts

Mary Lovelace O'Neal

1942–2026

Mary Lovelace O'Neal (February 10, 1942 – May 10, 2026) was an American visual artist and educator. Her work is focused on abstracted mixed-media (primarily in painting and printmaking) and minimalism. She was a professor emeritus at the University of…

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BIOGRAPHY
Education & Scholarship

Mary M. Frasier

1938–2005

Mary M. Frasier (1938–2005) was a famous African American educator who specialized in the area of gifted education at the University of Georgia. Frasier was born May 17, 1938, in South Carolina. Frasier worked to elevate the educational standing of African…

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BIOGRAPHY
Education & Scholarship

Mary Magdalen Healy

1846–1919

Mary Magdalen Healy, CND (born Eliza Healy; December 23, 1846 – September 13, 1919) was an American Catholic religious sister who served in the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal. Healy was born into the notable Healy family of Macon, Georgia; her…

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BIOGRAPHY
History & Culture

Mary Matilda Winslow

Dates not recorded

Mary Matilda (Tilly) Winslow was the first female Black Canadian to attend, starting in 1901, and graduate from the University of New Brunswick. She graduated with a BA in Classics in 1905, ranking at the top of her class. She was born in Woodstock, New…

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BIOGRAPHY
Education & Scholarship

Mary McHenry

1933–2021

Mary McHenry (née Mary Elizabeth Williamson, formerly Murphy; January 23, 1933 – March 1, 2021) was "credited with bringing African-American literature to Mount Holyoke College," where she taught from 1974 to 1988, retiring as Emeritus Professor of…

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BIOGRAPHY
Education

Mary McLeod Bethune

1875–1955

Bethune built a school for Black girls from almost nothing and later advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt on racial issues.

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BIOGRAPHY
Biography & Culture

Mary Moultrie

1943–2015

Mary Moultrie (born Mary Ann Moultrie; 1943- April 27, 2015) was a nurse's aid and civil rights activist. She was elected president of the union Local 1199B,the organized workers of the Medical College hospital of the University of South Carolina, where…

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BIOGRAPHY
Literature

Mary P. Burrill

1881–1946

Mary Powell Burrill (August 1881 – March 13, 1946) was an early 20th-century African-American female playwright of the Harlem Renaissance, who inspired Willis Richardson and other students to write plays. Burrill herself wrote plays about the Black…

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BIOGRAPHY
Arts & Performance

Mary Parks Washington

1924–2019

Mary Parks Washington (July 20, 1924 – March 27, 2019) was an American artist, arts advocate and art educator.

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BIOGRAPHY
Science & Inventions

Mary Perry Smith

1926–2015

Mary Perry Smith (May 29, 1926 – August 10, 2015) was an American mathematics educator who cofounded the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement program and the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

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BIOGRAPHY
Education & Scholarship

Mary Rice Phelps

1867–1931

Mary Rice Phelps (born May 1, 1867) was an African-American teacher and writer. She began her teaching career at thirteen years old.

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BIOGRAPHY
Education & Scholarship

Mary S. Peake

1823–1862

Mary Smith Peake, born Mary Smith Kelsey (1823 – February 22, 1862), was an American teacher, humanitarian and a member of the black elite in Hampton, best known for starting a school for the children of former slaves starting in the fall of 1861 under…

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BIOGRAPHY
Biography & Culture

Mary Sampson Patterson Leary Langston

Biography

Mary Sampson Patterson Leary Langston (born Mary Sampson Patterson; c. 1835 – 1915) was an American abolitionist, the first African-American woman to attend Oberlin College, and wife of notable abolitionists Lewis Sheridan Leary and Charles Henry Langston.…

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BIOGRAPHY
Politics & Public Life

Mary Scales

1928–2013

Mary Caruthers Scales (September 24, 1928 – October 6, 2013) was a professor, civic leader, and funeral home owner. She was the first black faculty member at Middle Tennessee State University where she taught in the College of Education, and became…

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BIOGRAPHY
Education & Scholarship

Mary Schmidt Campbell

1947–

Mary Schmidt Campbell (born October 21, 1947) is an American academic and government administrator, and museum director. She was the 10th president of Spelman College, serving from 2015 to 2022. Previously, she served as a director and curator for art…

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BIOGRAPHY
Biography & Culture

Mary Silvina Burghardt Du Bois

1831–1885

Mary Silvina Burghardt Du Bois (1831–1885) was an American domestic worker. She was born a free woman as the granddaughter of a freedman landowner who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She was the mother of the activist…

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BIOGRAPHY
Scholarship

Mary T. Bassett

1952–

Mary Travis Bassett is an American physician and public health researcher. Bassett was the 17th Health Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, serving from September 2021 to December 2022. From 2014 to 2018, she was the commissioner of the…

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BIOGRAPHY
Space

Mary W. Jackson

1921–2005

Jackson overcame segregated education barriers to become an aerospace engineer and later worked to advance women’s careers at NASA.

NASA
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Biographies, museum objects and archive records are distinct card types. Every card links to its historical source.