User:Fargofackyaself/Mary Ellen Cable

Mary Ellen Cable (née Montgomery; September 19, 1861 – September 18, 1944) was a teacher, a principal, a director of practice teachers, a community activist, a civic leader, a wife, and a mother who played a crucial role in reforming her community through her actions within its education system.

Professional career
Over the span of forty-five years, Mary Ellen Cable worked at five schools for the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) system, including Schools 4, 19, 23, 24, and 40. Besides teaching, she eventually took on the role of principal before becoming the director of practice teachers for seventeen years, where she successfully instructed sixty-one teachers, with five of them eventually becoming principals in Indianapolis.

In 1908, Mrs. Cable supervised garden projects at the William D. McCoy Public School No. 24 in an effort to foster community and to nurture the spread of beauty to their neighborhood, known at the time as the “Old Flanner House District.”

In 1912, while leading the Colored Women’s Civic Club as their president, Mary Ellen Cable founded the Indianapolis’s first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, becoming the branch’s first president, with Lucinda Hayden as its first vice president. For the first year, this branch, which was the second oldest branch in the Midwest, was also the first branch to be entirely headed and staffed by all women.

In 1916, while teaching at the William D. McCoy Public School No. 24 in the face of the ongoing spread of tuberculosis, Mary Ellen Cable worked with the Woman’s Improvement Club (WIC) of Indianapolis to establish one of the first “fresh air” classrooms in the city.

From 1922 to 1933, Mary Ellen served her final years as an educator before retiring by acting as principal of Indianapolis’s Public School No. 4, which was the first black elementary school in the city during segregation. As a way to inspire the students to invest themselves in the school’s success, she established student councils for the 5th through 8th grade students with the hope that the students’ individual talents would blossom while participating.

Early life and education
Growing up in her hometown of Leavenworth, Kansas, with her mother and brother, Samuel, had a resounding effect on Mary Ellen Montgomery’s development. Her inspiration to pursue education was formed thanks to her experiences during elementary school. She received her high school education from Leavenworth High School. After graduating, she moved on to the local Teacher’s Normal College for her undergraduate degree. Her post-graduate studies took place in the Universities of Butler, Chicago, Columbia, and Indiana.

Personal life
Raised with her brother, Samuel Montgomery, Mary’s mother nurtured her childhood calling to be an educator. Before accepting her first teaching position in Indianapolis in 1893, she met her husband, George Washington Cable, while teaching at an elementary school in Topeka, Kansas. Their son, Dr. Theodore Cable, would be born in Topeka on September 3, 1892.

Legacy
In 1957, the original School No. 4 where Mary Ellen served was torn down, with the new School No. 4, one of the few public schools to be rebuilt, being named after Mrs. Cable.

In 2007, a historical marker was erected at the site of the original Public School No. 4, where Mary Ellen served as its principal. The marker was erected by the Indiana University-Perdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

She is remembered for her active memberships in the Bethel African American Methodist Episcopal Church, the Browning Literary Society, and the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.