Fanny Jackson Coppin is her name. She 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 12 years old. Jackson worked as a servant for author George Henry Calvert through her teen years. In 1860 she enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio. Oberlin College was the 1st college in the U.S. to accepted black and/or female students. After she graduated in 1865, Jackson became a high school teacher at the Institute for Colored Youth(ICY) in PA. Jackson taught Greek, Latin, and mathematics. By 1869 Jackson became principal of the institute, making her the 1st African American women to receive the title of school principal. She held this position until 1906.
Fanny Jackson didn't only provide African American youth with education, she found homes for working and poor women. Jackson also was an influential columnist who defended the rights of women and blacks. Jackson added missionary work to her long list of accomplishments when she married on December 21,1881 to Rev. Levi Jenkins Coppin, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal(AME). The married couple went to south Africa and founded the Bethel Institute, a missionary school which emphasized self-help programs, in 1902. Coppin returned to PA because of declining health, after a decade of missionary work.
Fanny Jackson Coppin died on January 21,1913. In 1926, a Baltimore teacher training school was named after her(the Fanny Jackson Coppin Normal School). It is now Coppin State University.
[sources: http://www.coppin.edu/welcome/fjcoppin.asp , http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/coppin-fannie-jackson-1837-1913 , http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/02jun/discover_fannieJCoppin.html]
