page_title: Lena Madesin Phillips
section_title: Background and early life
hierarchical_section_title: Lena Madesin Phillips / Background and early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Historical marker at the birthplace of Lena Madesin Phillips in Nicholasville, Kentucky. The marker summarizes Phillips's life and work and was erected by the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Department of Highways in 1973.
context_page_description: Lena Madesin Phillips was a lawyer and clubwoman from Nicholasville, Kentucky, who founded the National Business and Professional Women's Clubs in 1919. She enlarged her circle, traveling also to Europe, and in 1930 she founded the International Federation of Business and Professional Women. Phillips served years as a president of each organization, and continued to work as an activist to the end of her life.
  She wrote numerous articles and pamphlets in the service of these causes, as well as frequently speaking to both women's and men's groups. Phillips also worked on two journals: Independent Women of NBPW, and the Pictorial Review.
context_section_description: Anna Lena Phillips was born on September 15, 1881 in Nicholasville, Kentucky; she was the daughter of Judge William Henry Phillips (1838-1933) and his second wife Alice (née Shook) Phillips of Jessamine County, Kentucky, whom he married in 1880. Her middle name was in honor of her father's first wife, Selina (also known as Lena). Her half-siblings were George M (Madesin) (born 1863), Arthur (born 1866), Florence (born 1868), and Fleming (born 1870). Her father's first child died as an infant.
  From a young age, Phillips wanted to step outside the normal gender-based roles, and she was eager to gain an education. At age 7 she was enrolled in the Jessamine Female Institute, where she studied every subject offered, including music. When Phillips was 11 years old, she changed her name to "Madesin" (a transliteration of the French médecin) in honor of her oldest brother George, who was studying medicine in Paris, France, and became a doctor. She used Madesin as her name for the rest of her life. Phillips graduated at age 18 from the Institute, with a Magna Cum Laude honor.
caption: Historical marker at the birthplace of Lena Madesin Phillips in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
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