Frances Rollin Whipper

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Frances Rollin Whipper
Frances Anne Rollin Whipper.jpg
Born19 November 1845 Edit this on Wikidata
Charleston Edit this on Wikidata
Died17 October 1901 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 55)
Beaufort Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationSuffragist, writer Edit this on Wikidata
Spouse(s)William James Whipper Edit this on Wikidata
ChildrenIonia Rollin Whipper, Leigh Whipper Edit this on Wikidata

Frances Anne Rollin Whipper (1845–1901) was a political activist, teacher, and author. She was born in Charleston, South Carolina, United States to married and free blacks. Her father was a well-to-do lumber merchant. She lived her early life as a part of the free black society in Charleston and was well educated. After the Civil War and the loss of her father’s business her life changed significantly. She eventually researched and wrote The Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delany. It was published under the name Frank A. Rollin.[1]

Biography[]

Francis Rollin Whipper was born on November 19, 1845, in Charleston, South Carolina. She died in Beaufort, South Carolina, on October 17, 1901 from an illness.

Whipper was born into a free family of color, which was originally from Saint Domingue. There is not much known information about Whippers’ mother, Margarette Rollin.On the other hand there’s Rollins’ father, William M. Rollin who was a successful lumber merchant in Charleston. William was a devoted catholic and wanted to ensure his daughter received quality education. Later on as the civil war approached, tension rendered for the free slaves as any connection with african ancestry would be imprisoned, so Francis along with her sisters moved to Philadelphia to attend The Quaker School for Colored Youth. At the Quaker School for Colored Youth, Whipper began her career as a writer and an activist of civil rights and feminism.

In 1865 and at the age of 20, Rollin returned to her hometown of Charleston and began working as a teacher for the Freedmen's Bureau, which was a U.S Federal government agency that aided distressed freed slaves during the Reconstruction Era of the United States.

Francis had an incident that same year in which she was refused her first-class entry onto the ferry heading back to Beaufort. Whipper sued the captain of the ferry and won the lawsuit Francis had an incident that same year in which she was refused her first-class entry onto the ferry heading back to Beaufort. Whipper sued the captain of the ferry and won the lawsuit

Three years later she was employed and began working for a Pennsylvania-born attorney, , who had recently been elected to the South Carolina legislature. Despite family opposition, Rollin and Whipper married after a few months of meeting.

Francis started having problems soon after, she had gotten ill, Delany stopped sending money, her mother was having illness problems as well.

While married, Frances Rollin, now Frances Whipper, began writing diaries which focused on the social life of Columbia, South Carolina and recorded the anti-black, anti-Republican violence that was on-going in the state.

After 12 years, the Whippers' marriage began to decline due to marital and political issues. The dream of an equal opportunity south became remote as the Ku Klux Klan was now on the move and rapidly spreading. Frances decided to separate from her husband and took their three children with her.

Frances A. Rollin, the political activist, teacher, and author, along with her four sisters, was very instrumental in politics during the Reconstruction Era.[2] Frances was born in 1844, in Charleston, South Carolina, to free color people.[3] This consisted of a small group of families that were related by blood or marriage, and were notably wealthy and owned value property, including slaves.[2] They were fair-skinned, well-educated, and conducted themselves in a well mannered and respectable way. They also controlled what literary material was read, and established their own organization.[2] One of the organization that were established was the Brown Fellowship society. This society was developed in 1790 and was only open to free light skin men.[2] Frances' father, William, was a member. There is little known about her mother. William Rollin was an offspring from the Haitian French, and came from one of the most honorable families in Santo Domingo.[2] In addition he was a wealthy wood and lumber dealer, and owned value property, such as slaves. He stood firm on his principle that all his daughters receive a first rate education.[2] Frances, the eldest, was sent to Philadelphia to take the " ladies course" at the Quaker Institute for Colored Youth, where she began her career as a writer and an advocate for feminism, and civil rights.[2] After returning to Charleston, South Carolina, Frances taught at schools supported by the American Missionary Association.[3] Also Frances and her sister advocated for women rights and suffrage, by recruiting well-to-do black and white Republicans' wives to join them in the fight. Katherine and Charlotte arranged a women's rights convention that was held in 1870 in Columbia, South Carolina, as well as established the South Carolina Branch of the American Woman Suffrage Association.[3]

Delany eventually asked Rollin to write his biography. In 1868, she published the Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delany[4] with the help of Lee and Shepard, a Boston publishing company. She wrote the book under her pen name Frank A. Rollin. This became the first full-length biography written by an African American. Frances Ann Rollin began writing a diary that detailed her "writing experiences as well as her meetings with notable abolitionists and luminaries of the Civil War era and notes Delany's financial challenges once the Civil War ended. Her diary became the earliest known diary by a southern black woman. Her diary "allowed a rare glimpse into the social life of Columbia, the South Carolina capital, and recorded the anti-black, anti-Republican violence then ongoing in the state during Reconstruction." She married William J. Whipper, a black attorney who had been recently elected to the South Carolina Legislature despite her family’s disapproval.

During the 1880s, Rollin separated from her husband and took her children with her to Washington, DC. In Washington, she attended Howard University School of Medicine, where she "became one of the first black women physicians in the United States."[5] She helped put her children through college and lived to see them accomplish their career goals. In 1892 "she contracted an illness while campaigning for Republican Presidential Candidate James G. Blaine",[6] and died in Beaufort, South Carolina, on October 17, 1901.

References[]

  1. ^ "Frances Ann Rollin Whipper", Notable Black American Women (1992), Gale Biography in Content.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Gatewood, B. W. (1991). "'The Remarkable Misses Rollin': Black woman in the Reconstruction South Carolina". The South Carolina Historical Magazine. 39 (3): 172–188. JSTOR 27568239.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hine, C. D.; Hine, C. W.; Harrold, S. (2011). The African American Odyssey. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. ISBN 9780205728817.
  4. ^ "Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delany" at Digital Schomburg.
  5. ^ Sommerville, Raymond R. (1992). "Ionia Rollin Whipper". In Carney Smith, Jessie (ed.). Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research. pp. 1248–1249.
  6. ^ Lewis, Carole Ione. "Rollin, Frances Anne". The Black Past.

Further reading[]

  • “Frances Ann Rollin Whipper,” Notable Black American Women (1992), Gale Biography in Content, Web September 13, 2012.
  • Ione, Carole. Pride of Family: Four Generations of American Women of Color. New York: Summit Books. 1991
  • Gatewood, Willard B. “The Remarkable Misses Rollin.” Black Women in Reconstruction South Carolina. South Carolina Historical Magazine 92 (July 1991):172-188.
  • Rollin, Frank A., The Life and Services of Martin R. Delany. Boston: Lea & Sheppard, 1883. http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/digs/wwm9720/ (accessed 10/04/2012)
  • Shockley, Ann Allen (ed.), Afro-American Women Writers: 1746-1933 (1988).
  • Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn. “Rollin Sisters". Black women in America. Second Edition, edited by Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford African American Studies Center.
  • Whitehead, K. Wise. "Rollin, Frances". In Henry Louis Gates Jr., Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (eds). African American National Biography, Oxford African American Studies Center.
  • "Frances Anne Rollin Whipper." Notable Black American Women, Gale, 1996. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1623000788/BIC?u=cofc_main&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=5c20805b. Accessed 8 Aug. 2021.

External links[]

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