Rosetta Evelyn (Coakley) Lawson
Date of Birth: About January 1st, 1857
Date of Death: April 19, 1936
Family:
Married to: Dr. Jesse Lawson Jr. (1856-1927)
Children: Josephine M. Harley (1885-1934), James Lawson (Nov 1885), Edward Lawson (Sep 1887), Wilfred Whitehead Lawson (January 20th, 1893 - October 2nd, 1943)
Early Life:
Rosetta Evelyn Lawson was born in King George County, Virginia in 1857. Her father left the family seeking freedom when she was two years old. At the age of five, her mother took her to Washington D. C. where Rosetta attended school and eventually attended a segregated high school in the District of Columbia. In her third year of high school, she was appointed assistant to the principal of grammar where she would continue to work for many years. (Scruggs, 1893, p. 340-342).
Career:
In 1873, Rosetta began working in the office of the Superintendent of Colored Schools of Washington and Georgetown. This included an eleven-year stretch as the assistant superintendent for the district. (Teague, 2020, para 2).
In 1906, Rosetta and Jesse Lawson organized a branch of the Bible Education Association within their own house. This included providing bible study, social services, and academic classes. As their efforts grew and grew, in February 1917, the Lawsons and Scientologist Kelly Miller expanded the school, founding Frelinghuysen University. The main goal was to meet the educational needs of black working-class adults. (Miller, 2011, para 1 & 2) (Frelinghuysen University, 2021).
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