Mary L. Bell (1901–1995) was the first African-American to own and operate a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

station in the city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, as president and chairperson of Bell Broadcasting Corporation.

Personal life

Bell was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, and graduated from

Walden University (Tennessee) Walden University was a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1865 by missionaries from the Northern United States on behalf of the Methodist Church to serve freedmen. Known as Central Tennessee College from 1865 t ...

. She married Haley Bell, and they had two daughters.

Career

Haley Bell founded Bell Broadcasting Corporation in 1956. Following Haley's death, Mary succeeded him as president and chairperson of the board. She retired in 1992. Bell was the parent company of the Detroit radio stations WJZZ-FM and WCHB-AM, among the first African-American owned and operated radio stations in the U.S. Bell was active in a variety of organizations, including the National Council of Negro Women, the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, and the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Death

Bell died of natural causes on March 25, 1995, in Detroit, Michigan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Mary L. 1901 births 1995 deaths Businesspeople from Detroit 20th-century African-American women African-American business executives 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century African-American businesspeople