Category: Educators

Educators
Civil War Women, Educators, Famous Firsts

Ann Preston

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First Woman Medical School Dean Ann Preston (December 1, 1813–April 18, 1872) was a doctor and educator of women in Pennsylvania. One of the most notable achievements of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the 19th century was the role it played in the entrance of women into medicine. Ann Preston was one of those pioneer Quaker women doctors. Through her leadership and her persuasive influence, Dr. Preston promoted educational, professional and social changes that eventually established the right of women to study medicine and removed the barriers which blocked the path of those women who aspired to become competent and successful physicians. Early Years Ann Preston was born on December 1, 1813 in West Grove, Pennsylvania, Quaker community…

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Civil War Women, Educators, Famous Firsts

Laura Haviland

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Founded First School for Children of All Races Laura Haviland (1808-1898) was an American abolitionist, suffragist and pioneer social reformer who operated a station on the Underground Railroad in southeastern Michigan. Haviland also established Michigan’s first school for children of all races. This post includes direct quotes from her autobiography, A Woman’s Life-Work. Early Years Laura Smith was born on December 20, 1808, in Kitley Township in what is now eastern Ontario, Canada to American parents, Daniel and Sene Blancher Smith, farmers of modest means. The Smiths, were devout members of the Society of Friends, better known as Quakers – her father was a Quaker minister and her mother was an elder in that church, which favored gender equality. Though…

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Civil War Women, Educators, Famous Firsts

Elizabeth Peabody

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Founder of the First Public Kindergarten Elizabeth Peabody (1804–1894), the oldest of the three Peabody sisters of Salem, was one of the most important women of her time. She was an educator and education reformer who opened the first kindergarten in the United States. Long before most teachers, Peabody embraced the premise that children’s play has intrinsic developmental and educational value. Her sisters were painter Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, wife of author Nathaniel Hawthorne and writer Mary Peabody Mann, wife of educator Horace Mann. Elizabeth Peabody spent her early years in Salem, Massachusetts, and was drawn to the world of education and ideas early in life. Peabody was born in Billerica, Massachusetts on May 16, 1804, the daughter of Nathaniel and…

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Civil War Women, Educators

Laura Towne

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Teacher of Emancipated Slaves When Union forces occupied St. Helena Island off the coast of South Carolina, plantation owners fled, leaving behind their homes, possessions and 10,000 slaves. Northern women like Laura Towne and Charlotte Forten volunteered to educate the freedmen and prepare them for economic independence. Image: Laura Towne class among the live oaks St. Helena Island, South Carolina The Port Royal Experiment, begun in 1862, was the first large-scale government effort to help the newly freed slaves, who promptly demonstrated their ability to work the land efficiently and live independently of white control. They assigned themselves daily tasks, and by selling their surplus crops, they acquired small amounts of property. Laura Matilda Towne was born May 3, 1825…

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Civil War Women, Educators

Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson

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Women in Education: Founder of Clemson University Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson (1817-1875) was the daughter of the prominent U.S. Senator from South Carolina, John C. Calhoun. She was very well educated and worked with her father in Washington, DC, where she met and later married Thomas Green Clemson. The land Anna Maria inherited after her mother’s death included Calhoun’s Fort Hill mansion, which is now at the center of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. Early Years Anna Maria Calhoun was born February 13, 1817, at Bath Plantation in Willington, South Carolina. She was the daughter of John C. Calhoun, noted U.S. Senator and seventh U.S. Vice President, and Floride Bonneau Colhoun Calhoun. Anna acquired her mother’s grace and style…

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African Americans, Civil War Women, Educators

Edmonia Highgate

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Teacher of Former Slaves in the South Teaching in the South during the Reconstruction era (1865-1877) took great courage. The women who traveled there to teach often feared for their lives but were determined to empower the freed slaves through literacy. Image: The Misses Cooke’s school room, Freedman’s Bureau, Richmond, Va. In Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1866 Nov. 17, Library of Congress Edmonia Highgate, the daughter of freed slaves, was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1844. She graduated from high school with honors, taught for a year in Montrose, Pennsylvania, and then became principal of a black school in Binghamton, New York. She was one of the many upstate New Yorkers who responded to the appeal to aid those…

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Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women, Educators

Eliza Porter

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Civil War Nurse and Educator Eliza Emily Chappell Porter was the first public school teacher at Fort Dearborn in Chicago. She established normal schools to train high school graduates to be teachers. As a member of the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, she established hospitals for wounded soldiers and distributed supplies. The Porter home in Green Bay, Wisconsin was the last stop on the Underground Railroad before slaves crossed Lake Michigan into the safety of Canada. Early Years Eliza Emily Chappell was born November 5, 1807 in Geneseo, New York, the eighth child of Robert and Elizabeth Kneeland Chappell. Elizabeth died from complications of childbirth. Already burdened with seven young children at home, Robert sent Eliza to live…

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African Americans, Civil War Women, Educators

Sarah Mapps Douglass

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African American Abolitionist and Teacher Sarah Mapps Douglass was born in Philadelphia on September 9, 1806, the daughter of renowned abolitionists Robert Douglass, Sr. and Grace Bustill Douglass. Like many prosperous families, the Douglasses educated Sarah and her brother Robert at home with private tutors. Image: Sarah Mapps Douglass: Faithful Attender of Quaker Meeting: View from the Back Bench by Margaret Hope Bacon Sarah’s grandfather, Cyrus Bustill, was a member of the Free African Society, the first African American charity organization. In 1803, he established a school for black children in his home. The Douglasses were among several free black families who formed the core of Philadelphia’s abolitionist movement. Grace Bustill Douglass ran a millinery store out of her home…

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African Americans, Civil War Women, Educators, Famous Firsts

Susie King Taylor

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African American Civil War Nurse and Teacher Susie Baker began life as a slave on August 6, 1848, at the Grest Plantation in Liberty County, Georgia, 35 miles south of Savannah. She was the first of nine children of Hagar Ann Reed and Raymond Baker. Her mother was a domestic servant for the Grest family. The Grests treated Susie and her brother with great affection, their childless mistress even allowing them to sleep on her bed when her husband was away on business. This easy-going atmosphere, Susie’s first experience of mutual trust between black people and white, became part of the standard by which she judged all later relationships with white people. About 1854 Mr. Grest allowed Susie and her…

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African Americans, Civil War Women, Educators

Charlotte Forten

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Women in Education: Teacher of Emancipated Slaves Charlotte Forten was the first northern African American schoolteacher to go south to teach former slaves. As a black woman, she hoped to find kinship with the freedmen, but her own education set her apart from the former slaves. For two years she stayed on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, but ill health forced her to return north. In 1864, she published “Life on the Sea Islands” in The Atlantic Monthly, which brought the work of the Port Royal Experiment to the attention of northern readers. Childhood Charlotte Forten was born in Philadelphia in 1837 into an influential and affluent family, all of whom were active in promoting equal rights for African Americans….

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