Worcester Normal School, which later became Worcester State College, was the alma mater of Worcester’s first African-American schoolteachers: Jennie Cora Clough and Sarah Ella Wilson. Although nearly 20 years separated the women, both became influential members of the Worcester community.

Jennie Clough, who graduated in January 1878, was born in 1857 to one of Worcester’s most prominent African-American families. Her grandfather, Peter Rich, had been born a slave in Lancaster, Mass. As a young man he moved to Worcester, where he became one of only three “colored” property owners in the community. Continue reading Worcester’s first African-American school teachers: Jennie Cora Clough and Sarah Ella Wilson →