Slave from Washington

Fannie Jackson Coppin (1837-1913) was born a slave in Washington D.C. on October 15, 1837. She gained her freedom when her aunt was able to purchase her at the age of twelve. Through her teen years Jackson worked as a servant for the author George Henry Calvert and in 1860 she enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio. Oberlin College was the first college in the United States to accept both black and female students.

While attending Oberlin College, Jackson enrolled and excelled in the men’s course of studies. She was elected to the highly respected Young Ladies Literary Society and was the first African American student to be appointed in the College’s preparatory department. As the Civil War came to an end, she established a night school in Oberlin to educate freed slaves

Upon her graduation in 1865, Jackson became a high school teacher at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY) in Philadelphia. Within a year, she was promoted to principal of the Ladies Department and taught Greek, Latin, and Mathematics. In 1869, Jackson became principal of the entire institute, becoming the first African American woman to hold such a position, a role she held until 1906.

In addition to providing African American youth with education, Jackson founded homes for working and poor women. She also became an influential columnist, advocating for the rights of women and African Americans in local Philadelphia newspapers. Jackson expanded her contributions through missionary work when she married Rev. Levi Jenkins Coppin, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church on December 21, 1881. In 1902, the couple traveled to South Africa and founded the Bethel Institute, a missionary school focused on self-help programs.

After a decade of missionary work, Coppin returned to Philadelphia due to declining health. Fannie Jackson Coppin passed away on January 21, 1913. In 1926, a Baltimore teacher training school was named the Fanny Jackson Coppin Normal School in her honor. Today, it is Coppin State University .