She founded many civic organizations, notably the Kentucky Association for the Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis, an affliction from which she had personally suffered.

She led efforts to implement model schools for children and adults, parks and recreation facilities, and manual training programs.

She was born in Woodlake, Kentucky and grew up at Ashland,[1] the farm established by her great-grandfather, nineteenth-century statesman Henry Clay.

[1] Henry was a federal judge[3] and Thomas was a renowned thoroughbred racehorse owner, breeder and trainer who won the 1902 Kentucky Derby.

She wrote book reviews for the Lexington Herald and studied German philosophy and literature with other Fortnightly Club members.

[10] The Breckinridges together used the newspaper's editorial pages to promote political and social causes of the Progressive Era, especially programs for the poor, child welfare and for women's rights.

The school, which opened in 1912, had classrooms for children's day and adult's night classes, swimming pools, gymnasium, a laundry, carpenter shop, cannery, and a community assembly hall.

[6][14] Breckinridge began working on finding ways to provide services for individuals with tuberculosis in Lexington in 1905, first with the development of a free clinic.

She worked hard, among other things, in this role to restore the rights of Kentucky women to vote in school board elections[15] even before the 19th Amendment granted full suffrage.

Breckinridge stated that in the cities women were taking an equal role with men in fighting "political corruption, vice, and faith."

She finished her speech by appealing to the legislator's sense of justice and asked them to show courage by voting to submit the proposed amendment to the voters.

The Herald reported that the two women were not invited to speak because the majority want to hear their speech on suffrage, but because legislators felt they had a duty to inform themselves on the issue.

In a strong voice coming from a slim and often weak body, she told audiences to look at male-led Kentucky, with its poor schools, violence, and corrupt politics, and asked if the question should not be whether women were fit for suffrage but whether men were.

She married Lexington Herald editor Desha Breckinridge and together they advocated women's rights in the newspaper with arguments that delineate Kentucky's progressive ideals in this time period.

Ill with tuberculosis, she promoted its treatment and cure; and advanced educational opportunities for poor children in Lexinton and entire state; and helped gain voting rights for women.