Howland, Emily, 1827-1929

Emily Howland was a Quaker reformer, educator and philanthropist. In the mid 1850s, she was a teacher in a school for African American girls. During the Civil War she helped organize the Freedman's Village at Camp Todd for refugee slaves, where she worked as nurse and teacher. After the war, she opened a school for African Americans. She took an interest in Southern normal and industrial school and left money for them in her will. The president of her county Woman's Suffrage Association, she worked for the voting rights of women alongside Susan B. Anthony and others. She was involved in the temperance movement and, in her later years, was a tireless champion of international peace. The University of the State of New York conferred on her a Litt.D. in 1927 for service to education.

Educator, reformer, philanthropist.

Emily Howland was born in Sherwood, New York in 1827, daughter of Slocum and Hanna (Tallcott) Howland. Her parents were prominent in the Society of Friends, and Emily was educated both at a private school in Sherwood and a Friends' school in Philadelphia. Early in life she became an active abolitionist, and during 1857-1859 was a teacher in a school for colored girls in Washington, D.C. In 1863-1864 she worked in a large camp for freed slaves in Arlington, Virginia, teaching them to read and write. With her father's aid, she opened an African-American school in 1867 at Heathsville, Virginia. She continued throughout her life to support this and other African-American schools in the South. In 1882 she took over the Sherwood select school until it was taken over by the New York Board of Regents in 1927. Howland was also active in reform movements such as women's suffrage, and peace and temperance organizations. Her niece, Isabel Howland, daughter of William and Hanna (Letchworth) Howland, also had a lifelong interest in educational and philanthropic activities.

Emily Howland was a Quaker humanitarian and educator who is particularly known for her work with freed slaves in Virginia during and after the American Civil War.

A birthright Friend, Emily Howland was the only daughter of Slocum and Hannah (Talcott) Howland of Sherwood, N.Y. She was educated locally and for a brief period in Philadelphia, and then moved to Washington, D.C. in 1857 to teach at the Miner School for Freedmen. During the war she worked at a contraband camp in Virginia, establishing a school and coordinating relief activities. She returned to Sherwood after her father's death in 1881, and contributed time and money toward the maintenance of the Sherwood School. She continued her interest in the education of African-Americans in the south, and was also involved in woman suffrage and temperance. Emily Howland never married, and died in Sherwood at the age of 102.

Caroline F. Putnam was born in Massachusetts on July 29, 1826, and entered Oberlin College in 1848. There, she became involved in the abolitionist movement and met Sallie Holley (1818-1893), a fellow abolitionist who became Putnam's lifelong friend. After their graduation, the two women traveled around the northern United States to raise support for abolitionism, and both grew interested in the welfare of freed slaves during the early years of the Civil War. In 1868, Putnam opened the Holley School in Lottsburg, Virginia, named in honor of Sallie Holley. The school held daytime classes for African American children and evening classes for freed slaves to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. Putnam ran the school until her retirement in 1903. She died in Lottsburg on January 14, 1917.