Emily Howland | |
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.jpg) Portrait of Emily Howland fromA Woman of the Century | |
| Born | (1827-11-20)November 20, 1827 |
| Died | June 29, 1929(1929-06-29) (aged 101) |
| Occupation(s) | philanthropist, humanitarian, abolitionist, educator |
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Emily Howland (November 20, 1827 – June 29, 1929) was aphilanthropist, humanitarian, and educator. She supported the education of African-Americans. She was also a strong supporter ofwomen's rights and thetemperance movement. Howland personally financed the education of many black students and contributed to institutions such as theTuskegee Institute,[1]Henry Damon Davidson'sCenterville Industrial Institute,[2] andKowaliga Institute inKowaliga, Alabama, where Howland Hall was named for her.[3]
Emily Howland was born atSherwood inCayuga County, New York,[4] on November 20, 1827.[4] She was the daughter of Slocum and Hannah Tallcot Howland, who were prominent in theSociety of Friends.[4] Her brother, William Howland, served in the106th New York State Legislature.[5] She was educated in small private schools in the community, and the Margaret Robinson School, a Friends school inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.[6]
An activeabolitionist, Howland taught atNormal School for Colored Girls (later known as the Miner School and nowUniversity of the District of Columbia) inWashington, D.C., from 1857 to 1859. During theCivil War, she worked at the contraband refugee settlement of Camp Todd inArlington, Virginia, establishing a school where she taught freedslaves to read and write as well as administering to the sick during asmallpox outbreak, coordinating relief efforts, and ultimately serving as director of the camp from 1864 to 1866.[6][7]
Beginning in 1867, she started a community for freed people in Heathsville,Northumberland County, Virginia, called Arcadia, on 400 acres purchased by her father, including a school for the education of children of freed slaves, theHowland Chapel School.[8][5] She continued to maintain an active interest in African-American education, donating money and materials as well as visiting and corresponding with administrators at many schools.[5] Returning toSherwood, New York, after her father's death in 1881, she inherited $50,000 ($1.63 million in 2024 dollars) and ran the Sherwood Select School until 1926 when it became a public school and was renamed the Emily Howland Elementary School by the state of New York.[5]
Howland was also active in women'ssuffrage, peace, andtemperance movements and was a member of theWoman's Christian Temperance Union.[9] In 1858, she began organizing women's rights lectures and meetings withSusan B. Anthony andElizabeth Cady Stanton. In 1878, she spoke at the 30th anniversary of theSeneca Falls woman's rights convention and in 1894 theNew York State legislature.[10] When the suffrage movement split into two groups, theNational Woman Suffrage Association and theAmerican Woman Suffrage Association, Howland did not take sides, but attended meetings of both groups.[9] In 1904, she spoke in front of Congress and attended the 1912 and 1913 suffrage parades in New York.[10] She has been credited with persuadingEzra Cornell that, as a Quaker, he should makeCornell University a coeducational institution.[9]
In 1926 she received an honoraryLitt.D. degree from theUniversity of the State of NY, in Albany, the first woman to have this honor conferred upon her from this institution.[5] She was also the author of an historical sketch of earlyQuaker history inCayuga County, NY:Historical Sketch of Friends in Cayuga County.[11]
Howland became one of the first female directors of a national bank in theUnited States, at the First National Bank of Aurora inAurora, New York, in 1890,[12] serving until her death, at age 101.
Her papers are held by several universities, including Cornell University,[13] Haverford College,[6] and Swarthmore College.[14] A photo album containing family, friends, and colleagues, as well as souvenir images of notable abolitionists and famous figures during the 1860s and 1870s is jointly owned by theNational Museum of African American History and Culture and theLibrary of Congress.[15] In 2021, she was inducted into theNational Women's Hall of Fame.[16]
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