-
1898:
Born with twin sister, Jesablair, in Durham, N.C.
-
1918:
Graduated from Woman's College in Greensboro, N.C., and became assistant principal of Creedmoor School and later principal of Northside School.
-
1926:
Began full-time work for the Intermediate Training Union of First Baptist Church.
Started writing books and contributed regularly to Baptist publications.
-
1940 -
1943
:
As a contract teacher under the Southern Baptist Convention's Foreign Mission Board, she served as professor at the University of Shanghai, teaching journalism and English.
-
1943:
Spent seven months in a Japanese internment camp.
Repatriated. Formally appointed a missionary of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
-
1946 -
1950
:
Returned to missionary work and teaching post at the University of Shanghai.
-
1952:
After the Communist occupation of China, she transferred to Taipei, Taiwan, and taught at National Taiwan University, a government sponsored university.
-
1953:
Helped found Grace Baptist Church in Taipei, Taiwan.
-
1959:
After returning on furlough, she became ill and died in the United States.
Coleman worked as a school administrator and journalist before gaining employment with the Intermediate Training Union of the First Baptist Church. During these experiences, she continued writing for the Daily Greensboro News, and Baptist publications, as well as authoring her own books. Her background in writing led to an editorship of the Foreign Mission Magazine which took her to Richmond, Virginia .
Later, while a professor in Shanghai, Coleman also became engaged in an active program of evangelism and social work. A request to the Foreign Mission Board of the denomination allowed her to remain in Shanghai during part of World War II. Upon repatriation in 1943, she went to Columbia University in New York, where she received her master's degree from the School of Philosophy, and completed additional graduate work. When conditions in China allowed, she returned to complete four more years at the University of Shanghai. In Taiwan, her teaching and evangelistic duties continued. She worked until a furlough in 1957.
From the guide to the Inabelle Graves Coleman Papers, (bulk, 1942-1981, 1952-1957), (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)
