Sarah Jane Woodson Early

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Sarah Jane Woodson Early (November 15, 1825 - August 1907) was an American educator. temperance activist and author.

Contents

[edit] Birth

Sarah Jane Woodson, the youngest child of Jemima and Thomas Woodson, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio on November 15, 1825. Family history indicates that Thomas Woodson was the oldest son of Sally Hemings and President Thomas Jefferson, however Jeffersonian historians, such as Joseph Ellis, continue to deny the connection, and inconclusive DNA testing announced by Ellis contradicts this conclusion.

[edit] Oberlin and Wilberforce

While graduating from Oberlin College in 1856, Ms. Woodson became one of the first African American women college graduates. In 1858 she became the first African American female college instructor, by joining the faculty of Wilberforce University, which was established by white clerymen in collaboration with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Wilberforce closed for two years during the Civil War. After its reopening, Ms. Woodson returned to the institution for two years as Preceptress of English and Latin and Lady Principal and Matron.

Lewis Woodson, Ms. Woodson's eldest brother, served on the founding Board of Directors of Wilberforce University. Two of her brothers, John and Thomas, were killed by slavecatchers, while working on the Underground Railroad. All three were AME ministers.

[edit] Post Civil War

Ms. Woodson taught in schools in several communities and was appointed principal of schools in Xenia, Ohio. She taught in a school in Hillsborough, North Carolina, which was established by the Freedmen's Bureau, before marrying the Reverend Jordan W. Early. Ms. Early helped her husband's ministry, then settled in Nashville TN. She was appointed Superintendent of the Colored Division of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. At the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 Ms. Early was named "Representative Woman of the Year." She wrote the biography, The Life and Labors of Rev. J. W. Early. She died in August of 1907.

[edit] Further reading

  • Ellen Lawson and Marlene Merrill, The Three Sarahs: Documents of Antebellum Black College Women, Edwin Mellen Press, 1984
  • Byron W. Woodson Sr. , A President in the Family, Praeger, 2001 very successful