Jennie Porter

Jennie Davis Porter (1879 – 3 July 1936) was an American educator. She was the first African-American to receive a PhD from the University of Cincinnati and became the first black female principal of a public school in Cincinnati. In 1989, she was posthumously inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life Porter was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to former slave William A. Porter and schoolteacher Ethlinda Davis Porter. She attended the city's integrated schools, and graduated from Hughes High School.

Career Porter began her career as a kindergarten teacher at the Douglass School in Walnut Hills. While continuing her teaching career, Porter coordinated with Annie Laws to establish the first all-black kindergarten in response to the unprecedented flood of uneducated black children migrating from the south during the Great Migration. This led to the establishment of the first all-black kindergarten in 1911, paid for by Laws. As a result of a major flood in 1913, Porter discovered that 147 black children were unable to attend school. She obtained permission to open a summer school to educate these children, which later developed into the Harriet Beecher Stowe School in 1914. The NAACP local president Wendell Dabney dubbed Porter "Jubilee Jenny" for what he perceived to be her willingness to accept the prejudices facing black populations.

In 1918, Porter enrolled in the University of Cincinnati and in 1928 became the first black person to receive a PhD from the school. At that time, the only available college black individuals could enroll in was the College of Education. After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1924, Porter petitioned the college to create a separate degree program, the Bachelor of Education degree, which required in-the-field training.

Porter died on 3 July 1936.

In 1989, Porter was posthumously inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.