Josephine Turpin Washington
Josephine Turpin Washington | |
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Cleveland, Ohio | |
| Occupation(s) | Educator and writer |
| Spouse | Dr. Samuel Somerville Hawkins Washington |
Josephine Turpin Washington (July 31, 1861 – March 17, 1949) was an African-American writer and teacher. A long-time educator and a frequent contributor, Washington devised articles to magazines and newspapers typically concerning some aspect of racism in America. Washington was a great-granddaughter of Mary Jefferson Turpin, a paternal aunt of Thomas Jefferson.
Family
Josephine Turpin was born in Goochland County, Virginia on July 31, 1861, the daughter of Augustus A. Turpin and Maria V. Crump. Her father was a son of a former African slave named Mary and her former enslaver Edwin Durock Turpin (1783–1868). In her 1995 book, All is Never Said: The Narrative of Odette Harper Hines (written with Judith Rollins), Hines reveals that Turpin fell in love with Mary not long after she arrived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana aboard a slave ship and became his property. Sometime later he took the very unusual step for the day and married her. According to Hines, her great-grandfather took care that their children received an education and also broke with common practice in allowing his slaves to learn basic reading, writing and arithmetic.[1][2]
Early life
Turpin was first educated at home and later at public schools probably in
Educator
Over her career Washington would serve on the faculties of
Writer
New York Public Library
Washington's first article accepted for print, "A Talk about Church Fairs", appeared in the Virginia Star whilst she was still in her teens. In the piece she questioned the sale of wine at church fundraising events. Washington wrote essays such as "Higher Education for Women", which appeared in the People's Advocate, and the introductions to Women of Distinction (1893) by Lawson A. Scruggs and Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction (1926) by
Writing in 1904 for the Colored American Magazine on the sixth annual meeting of the State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, held in Mobile, Alabama, Washington reported not only on the delegate's focus on black womanhood, standards of morality, and the setting up of a youth reformatory but also on the pervasive effects of segregation and racial prejudice within the city itself. With an eye to discrimination on all levels of society, Washington noted, for instance, the playgrounds that were set aside for the exclusive use of white children, while black children "look on longingly, but dare not touch the sacred structure.
— Facts on File History Database Center[7]
These and other articles are gathered in Rita Dandridge's edition of The Collected Essays of Josephine J. Turpin Washington: A Black Reformer in the Post-Reconstruction South (University of Virginia Press, 2019).
Death
Washington died at age 87 at her daughter's home in
Resources
- ^ Penn. The Afro-American Press and Its Editors, 1891, pp.393-396 Retrieved December 4, 2013
- ^ Hines and Rollins All is Never Said: The Narrative of Odette Harper Hines", 1995, pp. 20-21, xviii. Retrieved December 3, 2013
- ^ Harlan and Smock. The Booker T. Washington Papers: 1904-6, 1979, p. 251 Retrieved December 4, 2013
- ^ a b Mrs. S. S. H. Washington. New York Times, March 19, 1949, p. 15
- ^ Scruggs, Lawson Andrew. Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character. United States: L. A. Scruggs, 1893.
- ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office. Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1926, Part 1., 1927, p. 1194 Retrieved November 5, 2013
- ^ a b Washington, Josephine - Facts On File History Database Center Retrieved December 5, 2013
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