Ellen Mills Scarbrough
{{Short description|Liberian politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name =
| image =
| office1 = Member of the House of Representatives
| term1 = 1960–
| birth_date = 13 November 1900
| birth_place = Arthington, Liberia
| death_date = March 1983
| death_place = Monrovia, Liberia
}}
Ellen Mills Scarbrough (13 November 1900 – March 1983) was a Liberian educator and politician. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 1959, becoming the first woman in the Legislature.
Biography
Mills Scarbrough was born in Arthington in 1900. After studying at the College of West Africa, she attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she earned a BA. She then gained an MA from Columbia University. Returning to Liberia, she worked as a teacher.Elwood D. Dunn, Amos J. Beyan & Carl Patrick Burrowes (2000) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qt0_RrW8ghkC&pg=PA293 Historical Dictionary of Liberia] p293 In 1947 she was a member of the Liberian Delegation to the United Nations.{{cite journal | author=Angie E. Brooks | title=Political Participation of Women in Africa South of the Sahara | journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science | volume=375 | date=January 1968 | pages=82–85 | doi=10.1177/000271626837500112 | jstor=1037892 | s2cid=154658084 }} The following year, she was appointed assistant secretary of public instruction. Four years later she was promoted to assistant secretary. She was also made an honorary Doctor of Education by the University of Liberia.[https://books.google.com/books?id=LjXsjQDTs6cC&pg=RA13-PA4 Education in Liberia under the Department of Public Instruction] Liberia Today, volume 2, number 8 August 1953
In 1959 she was elected to the House of Representatives,[https://books.google.com/books?id=GsWRT-H2MaUC&pg=PA4 Election results] Liberia Today, September 1959 becoming the first woman to sit in either the House or the Senate.Richard A. Henries, A. Doris Banks Henries (1966) Liberia, the West African Republic, p135 She also served as president of the National Federation of Liberian Women.The National Christian Council Review, volume 91, p538
She later donated land to the government, on which the Catherine Mills mental hospital was established. She died in Monrovia in March 1983.
References
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Category:Americo-Liberian people
Category:People of Americo-Liberian descent
Category:People from Montserrado County
Category:Howard University alumni
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:20th-century Liberian women politicians
Category:20th-century Liberian politicians