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) Historical Dictionary of Liberia p293 In 1947 she was a member of the Liberian Delegation to the United Nations. 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.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,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.
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