Born on Long Island, Josephine Silone Yates moved to Philadelphia when she was 11 years old and attended the Institute of Colored Youth run by Fannie Jackson Coppin. Later her aunt invited her to come live with her in Newport and attended high school there. Josephine was the first African American to graduate from Rogers High School and to become certified to teach in Rhode Island public schools. She went on to study at Rhode Island State Normal School and then moved to Jefferson City, Missouri to teach chemistry, botany, physiology and drawing at Lincoln University. She was one of the first African American teachers hired. Within five years, she became head of the Natural Science Department - the first woman elected to a full professorship and the first African-American female to head a college science department.
Throughout her life, Josephine fought for racial and social change. She contributed under the pseudonym R.K. Porter to the Boston Herald and the Los Angeles Herald. After leaving Lincoln University, she was active in the African American women’s club movement, helping to organize and lead the Women’s League in Kansas City. She would later become president of the National Association of Colored Women. Josephine returned to Lincoln University in 1902, serving as head of the Department of English and History until 1910. She then worked for the Kansas City Board of Education until her death in 1912.
Biography provided by Heidi Benedict, Roger Williams University
Image courtesy of Lincoln University Picture Collection, Inman E. Page Library, Jefferson City, MO
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