BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Lucy Stanton (Day Sessions) (born Lucy Stanton; 16 Oct. 1831-18 Feb. 1910) was an American abolitionist and feminist figure, notable for being the first African American to complete a four-year course of a study at a college or university.[1][2] She graduated from Oberlin Collegiate Institute (Oberlin College) on August 27, 1850.[3][4]
Early life
Lucy Stanton was born free, the only child of Margaret and Samuel Stanton. When her biological father Samuel, a barber, died when she was only 18 months old, Stanton's mother married John Brown, an abolitionist famous around Cleveland, Ohio for his participation in theUnderground Railroad. Stanton is noted as saying that John Brown would harbor as many as 13 runaway slaves in their house at any given time.[2][5]
Education
In addition to his work as an abolitionist, John Brown was also an advocate for African American education. Stanton attended the Cleveland Free School that Brown formed for African American children.[2]
In 1846, after graduation, Stanton enrolled in Oberlin College, completing a Literary degree in the "Ladies' Literary Course" of study, which differed from the B.A. offered to men in that it did not require foreign languages or higher mathematics.[3] At Oberlin College, Stanton was very active in the Ladies' Literary Society, and was invited (and presented) a speech at her graduation entitled "A Plea for the Oppressed" which expressed her abolitionist sentiments.[3] This speech, in response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which was about to take effect, urged the audience, particularly women, to put themselves in the place of the enslaved, to join the abolitionist cause, and to ultimately end Slavery in the United States.[3] Her speech was immensely well-received, and reprinted in publications like ""The Oberlin Evangelist"", the Oberlin College school newspaper, and ""The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States Politically Considered"".[2]
Personal life and activism
Fresh out of school, Lucy Stanton began working as a principle at another free school in Cleveland. On November 25, 1852, Stanton married William Howard Day, whom she had met at Oberlin College. Following this marriage, Stanton worked both as a librarian, and then later as an editor in Cleveland's first abolitionist newspaper, ""The Alienated American"". In 1854 she became the first African American published fiction writer with a story in this same newspaper, entitled "Charles and Clara Hays.[2]" Stanton and Day had a daughter, Florence Day, in 1858 before Day abandoned his wife and child, leaving for England in 1859. Stanton successfully received a divorce from him in 1872.[1] Following Day's abandonment, Stanton worked as a seamstress in Cleveland, before continuing her activism. Her affiliation with the Cleveland Freedman Association led to her being sent first to Georgia (U.S. state) in 1866 and then to Mississippi, both to teach newly freed slaves. While in Mississippi, Stanton met, and then in 1878 married, Levi Sessions. The couple moved to Tennessee where Stanton continued to be a supporter of women's and African Americans' rights by working with organizations such as the Women's Relief Corps, the Order of Eastern Star, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church.[2]
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