Arabella Chapman

Arabella Chapman (1859–1927) was an African American woman who is best remembered for being the first student to graduate from upstate New York's Albany School for Educating People of Color, later known as Albany High School.

Biography Chapman was born free in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her sister was Harriet Alfarata Thompson. In 1877, she became the first African American to graduate from the Free Academy, and by 1880, she was teaching music. Her marriage to Clarence Miller led Chapman to leave Albany, traveling with Miller to North Adams, Massachusetts, where he would be employed as a waiter and she would raise their children.

Chapman's photo albums were exhibited in the 2013–14 exhibition, Proclaiming Emancipation, at the University of Michigan as examples of how the memory of the Civil War, Emancipation, and citizenship was constructed by ordinary people.

Arabella Chapman's photo albums have been curated as part of an on-line exhibit, The Arabella Chapman Project.