Josephine Silone Yates

Josephine Silone Yates (1852 or November 15, 1859 – September 3, 1912) was an American professor, writer, public speaker, and activist. She trained in chemistry and became one of the first black professors hired at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. Upon her promotion, she became the first black woman to head a college science department.

Yates also made significant contributions to journalism (sometimes under the pseudonym Mrs. R. K. Potter) and the overall social mobility of black women. She was a correspondent for the Woman's Era (the first monthly magazine published by black women in the United States). She wrote for other newspapers and magazines as well, including Omaha, Nebraska's Enterprise.

Yates was a major figure in the African-American women's club movement and was instrumental in establishing women's clubs for African-American women. She helped found and was the first president of the Kansas City Colored Women's League (1893), and was the second president of the National Association of Colored Women (1900–04).

Early life and education Josephine Silone's birth is given variously as 1852 She was the second daughter of Alexander and Parthenia Reeve Silone in Mattituck, New York. During her childhood, Silone and her family lived with her maternal grandfather, Lymas Reeves, who had been freed from slavery in 1813.

Silone started school at age six, and was rapidly advanced by her teachers. The next year, Rev. Reeve moved to Howard University, and as a result, Silone went to live in Newport, Rhode Island with her maternal aunt, Francis I. Girard. There, she attended grammar school and later Rogers High School. Yates was the only black student at both, but was well received by her teachers due to her academic prowess. Her science teacher considered her his brightest pupil and enabled her to do additional laboratory work in chemistry. As the first black student to graduate from Rogers High School, She later earned a master's degree from the National University of Illinois. She published poetry, including "The Isles of Peace," "The Zephyr," and "Royal To-Day."

Yates was also interested in a wide range of literature, including untranslated French and German works. She published on German and Russian literature, and noted the similarities between the Russian system of serfdoms and slavery in America.

The Women's Club movement

Yates helped to found the Women's League of Kansas City, an organization for the self-help and social betterment for African-American women, and became its first president in 1893. In 1896, the Women's League joined the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), a federation of similar clubs from around the country. She was the NACW's second president.

Anna Julia Cooper provided a testament to her accomplishments and acclaim in a speech presented by in 1893 at the World's Congress of Representative Women in Chicago:

Later life In 1902, Yates was recalled by the president of Lincoln Institute to serve as the head of the department of English and history. In 1908 she requested to resign due to illness, but the board of regents did not accept, and she stayed on as the advisor to women at Lincoln Institute.

Her husband died in 1910, after which she chose to return to Kansas City. She taught at Lincoln High School from then until her death.

Yates died on September 3, 1912, after a short illness.