E. Belle Mitchell

Eliza Isabelle (Belle) Mitchell was born on December 31, 1848 in Perryville, Kentucky to Monroe and Mary Mitchell.[1][2] Her father was a carpenter.[3] Her parents were former slaves who bought their own freedom prior to her birth.[2] She attended private school in Danville and Xenia, Ohio.[3]

Mitchell met John Fee, a missionary and abolitionist, in 1865 at her church in Danville. Fee hired Mitchell to be the first African American teacher at Camp Nelson. Camp Nelson was first established as a Union depot during the United States Civil War. After Lincoln emancipated the slaves in the United States, 10,000 men, woman, and children lived at Camp Nelson because they had to leave their home.[2]

Mitchell's time at Camp Nelson was cut short because she was forced out by white teachers and missionaries that objected to Mitchell sharing the dining facilities.[1][2]

After leaving Camp Nelson, Mitchell was invited to teach at The Missionary Free School of Color in Lexington, Frankfort, Louisville, Nicholasville and Richmond, Kentucky.[1]

In 1871, Mitchell married Jordan Jackson, a successful businessman in Lexington, Kentucky.[2] Jackson was an undertaker and livery owner. After her marriage, she owned a millinery shop in Lexington.[2] Jackson and Mitchell worked together on political efforts to advance the lives of the African-American community in Kentucky.[2]

Mitchell was a co-founder of the Colored Orphans Industrial Home in Lexington, Kentucky.[2] Originally the institution was a home for elderly African American women without family to care for them.[2] Eventually, the home became an orphanage and school for homeless African American children.[2]

• Benjamin, R.C.O. (1899). Negro Business Directory Fair Souvenir for Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington: Standard Printing Co.
• Byars, Lauretta Flynn (1996). "E. Belle Mitchell Jackson". In Smith, Jessie Carney (ed.). Notable Black American Women, Book II. Detroit, MI: Gale Research. pp. 317–20.
• Byars, Lauretta F. (Spring 1991). "Lexington's Colored Orphan Industrial Home, 1892-1913". Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 89 (2): 147–178. JSTOR 23382430.
• Byars, Lauretta F. (1995). Lexington's Colored Orphan Industrial Home: Building for the Future. Lexington, KY: I.B. Bold Publications.
• Burnside, Jacqueline G. (Summer 1987). "Black Symbols: Extraordinary Achievements by Ordinary Women". Appalachian Heritage. 15 (3): 11–16. doi:10.1353/aph.1987.0071. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
• Burnside, Jacqueline G. (1988). Philanthropists and Politicians: A Sociological Profile of Berea College, 1855-1908. New Haven, CT: Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University. hdl:10079/bibid/9838575.
• Dunnigan, Alice Allison (1982). The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians: Their Heritage and Traditions. Washington D.C.: Associated Publishers. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
• Fee, John G. (1891). Autobiography of John G. Fee, Berea, Kentucky. Chicago, Ill.: National Christian Association. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
• Fouse, William H. (1937). Educational History of Negroes of Lexington, Kentucky. Cincinnati, OH: Masters thesis, University of Cincinnati. OCLC 21492093.
• Hodge, Aleta (September 6, 2014). "The Jackson Family Legacy in Kentucky". Kentucky Ancestors. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
• Mitchell, Myrtle Y. (March 1991). "Interview with Lauretta Flynn Byars". Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. University of Kentucky Libraries. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
• "Robert H. Williams Children's Home Oral History Project". Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. University of Kentucky Libraries. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
• Sears, Richard (2015). "Jackson, Eliza Isabel "Belle" (Mitchell)". In Smith, Gerald L.; McDaniel, Karen Cotton; Hardin, John A. (eds.). The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. p. 269. Retrieved 6 June 2018.