Martha Ellicott Tyson (September 13, 1795 – March 5, 1873) was an Elder of the Quaker Meeting in Baltimore, an anti-slavery and women's rights advocate, historian, and a co-founder of Swarthmore College.

Leaders of the Baltimore Corn and Flour Exchange said of him, "the deceased presented to us, in his daily conduct, his known integrity, his uniform courtesy and goodness of heart".

[6] Tyson worked to improve educational opportunities for enslaved people and women[14] and, with her husband, helped found the Fallston Public Library.

Martha and her husband tried a new approach when they hosted a meeting in their home of Quaker leaders from New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

This meeting of 30 leaders propelled the movement to start the second coeducation college in the United States, providing new educational opportunities for women.

Founded in 1860 just prior to the American Civil War, Swarthmore College was established to provide: "A better educated generation that could achieve freedom, peace, prosperity, and righteousness.

[5][6] She conducted interviews and compiled the materials for her two biographies, the second of which was edited by her daughter Anne Tyson Kirk, who sought advice from Frederick Douglass.

[22] She also wrote memoirs of family members, including one of Joseph Ellicott that the Maryland Historical Society printed.

[1] After experiencing declining health for about three months, Martha died on March 5, 1873, at the age of 77 years while surrounded by family members.

[24] In 1910, John Russell Hayes wrote a poem entitled A Portrait of Martha Ellicott Tyson, which memorialized a work of art hanging on a wall at Swarthmore College.

During her life, Tyson, continued to encourage and support the rights of women and slaves to achieve the freedom necessary to reach their full potential.