Bertha Whedbee

Bertha Par Simmons Whedbee (1876 - 1960) was an activist, suffragist, and first African American woman to become a police officer in Louisville, Kentucky.

Whedbee was born as Bertha Par Simmons in West Virginia in 1879.

[2] On March 3, 1922, she presented a petition that she be appointed a police officer.

[10] Whedbee went on to become the first African American woman to work for the Louisville Metro Police Department when she started on March 22, 1922.

[10] She worked on the police force until 1927 when she resigned in protest when the other African American officers were dismissed by a new city administration.