Jane Eleanor Datcher
Jane Eleanor "Nellie" Datcher was a botanist and the first African-American woman to earn a degree from Cornell University in 1890.[1]
Jane Eleanor Datcher | |
|---|---|
 Nellie Datcher, 1891 | |
| Born | 1868 Washington, D.C. |
| Died | February 24, 1934 Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cornell University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | Howard Medical School Dunbar High School |
Life
Jane Eleanor Datcher was born and raised in Washington, D.C.,[2] the daughter of Samuel and Mary Victoria Cook Datcher. Her maternal grandfather, Rev. John Francis Cook, Sr., was the founding pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. In 1886, Jane enrolled at Cornell University at the age of 19 with her cousin, Charles Chauveau Cook. It was the only school that would educate them both.[3] She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell in 1890 for her research on the species Hepatica triloba and Hepatica acutiloba.[1] She was among the first three African-Americans to graduate from Cornell, along with her cousin Charles and George Washington Fields.[2] After graduating, she helped form the Collegiate Alumnae Club (later part of the Colored Women's League), an organization run by Mary Church Terrell as a resource for educated black women.[4]
Datcher went on to attend Howard Medical School from 1893 to 1894, and taught chemistry at Dunbar High School until her death in 1934.[2]
Publications
- Datcher, Jane Eleanor (1890). A biological sketch of Hepatica triloba and Hepatica acutiloba. Cornell University.
References
- "The Importance of the Early Students" (PDF). Plant Science Bulletin. Botanical Society of America. 60 (3): 144. 2014.
- Cobb, Ed (January 24, 2020). "Jane Eleanor Datcher: First African-American woman to obtain an advanced degree at Cornell". Cornell University. School of Integrative Plant Science History Committee. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- Kammen, Carol (2009). Part & Apart: The Black Experience at Cornell, 1865-1945. Cornell University Libraries. ISBN 978-0-935995-17-6. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- Moldow, Gloria (1987). Women Doctors in Gilded-age Washington: Race, Gender, and Professionalization. University of Illinois Press. pp. 158–159. ISBN 978-0-252-01379-9. Retrieved 26 November 2020.