Frazelia Campbell


Frazelia Campbell was an American classicist and teacher. She featured in the "Black Classicists" travelling exhibition celebrating the achievements of African Americans working in Classical education.

Early life

Frazelia Campbell was born in Charleston, South Carolina on 18 March 1849 to Frederick and Julia Swartz Campbell.

Education

Campbell studied at Philadelphia's Institute for Colored Youth, graduating in 1867. She was probably taught by Fanny Jackson Coppin, a graduate of Oberlin College and a campaigner for women's education who taught Greek, Latin, and Mathematics at the Institute from 1865 and served as its Principal from 1869-1902. Campbell gave a paper titled "The Worth of Books" on the school's 1865 commencement program, and another in 1866 called "Sic Itur ad Astra." Two years later, in 1868, she presented her essay "Virgil and Grey" at the school's winter commencement.

Career

After graduation she worked at the Institute, teaching Latin, German, and Spanish, becoming the Principal of the Girls' High School at the Institute in 1876. When the Institute discontinued its academic work in 1902, Campbell moved to a teaching post at Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, a university founded to support the education of African American people. During her time at the Institute for Colored Youth and at Allen University, she published articles on a range of classical and educational topics in the African Methodist Episcopal Church Review. Campbell taught at Allen University until at least 1912; at some point after this she returned to Philadelphia.

Death

Campbell remained in Philadelphia where she died in her home, 621 N. Fifty-Seven St. on 5 October 1930. She died at the age of 81 and is buried in a family plot in the Eden Cemetery. This is a burial ground chartered for and by blacks in 1902 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Black Classicists exhibition

Campbell is one of only two women, along with Helen Maria Chesnutt, to be featured in the 'Black Classicists' exhibition, which celebrates the contributions of African Americans to Classical education in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Select publications