Jessie M. Vann

Jessie Vann (née Matthews, February 23, 1885; died June 7, 1967) was an African-American teacher and newspaper publisher. From 1940 to 1963 she was owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier, a leading weekly African-American newspaper.

Early life and family Vann was born Jessie Ellen Matthews in Floradale, Pennsylvania on February 23, 1885. After moving to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, she was a top student at Harrisburg's Central High School and was the only African-American graduate in 1904. Following this, she became a prominent school teacher. In 1908 she met Robert Lee Vann, when he was a law student and she a kindergarten teacher. They married in 1910, the Newspaper Publishers Association, and the Pennsylvania governor's Committee on Industrial Race Relations, and President Dwight Eisenhower’s International Development Advisory Board. In 1956 and 1960, she was an alternate delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention. She was survived by foster daughter Mabel Johnson.