Mary Burrell

Mary Elizabeth Cary Burrell (August 1865 – ) was an American educator and businessperson. She is known for being a school teacher and for working for causes like women's suffrage.

Early life Burrell was born in August 1865 in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Beverly and Lucy Cary (or Carey). Her father worked in a tobacco factory.

Burrell graduated from the Richmond Colored Normal School in June 1883. Richmond's public schools were segregated at the time, and the plan was for black students to receive their diplomas in a church, while white students graduated in a theater. The graduating black seniors protested the segregated graduation ceremony, and were able to force the school to combine graduations at the school auditorium, although seating was still segregated. Fellow graduating senior Wendell Dabney claimed that this was "the first school strike of Negroes in America." Maggie Lena Walker was another of the ten graduating seniors from Richmond Colored Normal School that year. who likewise had graduated from the Richmond Colored Normal School, the year after she did. As a member of the Grand Fountain, Mary Burrell founded new lodges as well as expanded the number of youth education programs (called 'Rosebud') which were organized by the lodges to teach financial skills. Mary Burrell was involved in women's suffrage, and later worked on get-out-the vote programs and various political organizations.