Frankie E. Harris Wassom (1850-1933) was an American writer and educator.

Early life

Frankie Emma Harris was born in

Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered auton ...

and raised in

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of th ...

, the daughter of Beverly Harris and Rebecca E. West Harris. Her parents were involved in the activities of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

before Emancipation. Frankie E. Harris attended Oberlin College, like her older sisters did, to study music and fine arts.Monroe Alphus Majors
''Noted Negro Women: Their Triumphs and Activities''
(Donohue & Henneberry 1893): 71-74. She graduated in 1870.

Career

Frankie E. Harris taught school in Virginia after college. She became a school principal in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

in 1871. In 1874 she accepted a position as teacher in Mississippi, but only stayed a year. After she married, Frankie E. Harris Wassom taught and wrote poetry for newspapers in Goldsboro, North Carolina. She taught aspiring teachers at the Goldsboro Normal School and was an officer of the Colored Teachers Council of Wayne County. By 1893 she was teaching in Knoxville again. In 1907, she was teaching at the Lincoln Institute in Kansas. In 1916, she was a school principal in

Odessa, Missouri Odessa is the largest city in Lafayette County, Missouri, and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area within the Midwestern United States. The population was 5,593 at the 2020 census. Located along Interstate 70 Odessa's historic downtown is ...

. In all, she taught for 54 years, including two faculty positions at black colleges. In 1886 her first book of poems was published. She showed some of her art at the North Carolina State Colored Industrial Fair that same year, and a song she wrote, "Coming to the Fair", was performed at the fair's educational convention.

Personal life

Frankie E. Harris married Col. George T. Wassom, a lawyer and politician, in 1874. They had two daughters, Pearl and Mabel. F. E. H. Wassom died in North Carolina in 1933, aged 83 years. Her sister's Elizabeth's husband was

James E. O'Hara James Edward O'Hara (February 26, 1844 – September 15, 1905) was an American politician and attorney who in 1882, after Reconstruction, was the second African American to be elected to Congress from North Carolina."James Edward O'Hara"
North Carolina History Project.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wassom, Frankie E. Harris 1850 births 1933 deaths American women poets American educators Oberlin College alumni