Mary Ellen Henderson (née Meriwether; September 18, 1885 – February 4, 1976) was an African-American educator and civil rights activist in the mid-1900s.

She is most famous for her work desegregating living spaces in Falls Church, working to build better facilities for black students in Falls Church, Virginia and starting the CCPL (Colored Citizens Protective League),[1] the first rural branch of the NAACP.

Mary Ellen, nicknamed "Miss Nellie" by her students, originally taught grades four through seven at James E. Lee Elementary School,[6] a segregated two-room schoolhouse for black children.

[15] Both of the Hendersons were honored in 1960 by the Fairfax County Council on Human Relations for their battle against racial bias.

Two of these people are Dr. Edwin and Mrs. Mary Ellen Henderson, civil rights pioneers from Northern Virginia that worked for social justice for nearly 50 years.

Henderson was able to use the disparities outlined in the report to convince the Fairfax County School Board to build the new 6-room schoolhouse and divide funds equally in the future.

[12] Mary Ellen Henderson attended the Normal School (now known as The D.C. Teachers College), where she met her lifetime partner, Dr. Edwin Bancroft "E.B."

He would later become the first black physical education director in a city school system [4] and the president of the Virginia Chapter of the NAACP.

[19] Even after they moved, the Hendersons visited their summer home at Highland Beach near Annapolis, Maryland, where Mary Ellen was an active member in local civic affairs.

[7] Toward the end of her life, Mary Ellen Henderson moved to the Wisconsin Avenue Nursing Home, where she died on February 4, 1976, aged 90.