The author of Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character said the following of Josephine Turpin Washington: "A simple statement of the facts is amply sufficient to tell of her greatness, and especially so when we remember that she has become noted long before reaching the age when scholarship usually ripens into golden fruit"(p.90). 

Washington was born in  Goochland County, VA on July 31, 1861 to Augustus A. Turpin and Maria V. Crump. Augustus was the son of an enslaved African woman named Mary and Edwin Durock Turpin, who owned and later married her. He was a grandson of Mary Jefferson Turpin who was an aunt to Thomas Jefferson¹.

Josephine learned to read very early with the help of a family friend. In Richmond,  where her parents moved, she graduated early from  the public school, and in 1876 graduated from the High and Normal School². After her graduation, Josephine joined the Richmond Institute ³, where she taught for three years, and also took classes. She left the school without graduating, missing a course or two because she was teaching during the exam. Josephine joined Howard University in the fall of 1883, and graduated in 1886. She worked as a clerk for Frederick Douglass⁴,  and held positions at Howard University before moving with her husband, the physician Samuel Washington, to Mobile, Alabama.

Literary work

Josephine's contribution to literature is wide and diverse. She wrote poems, and covered a variety of topics including religious matters, racial issues, and women’s problems. For instance, in 1877,   she published her first article "A Talk About Church Fairs" in the Virginia Star⁵ to oppose the selling of wine at church fundraising. Her article, "Higher Education for Women" in 1884, argued for women education, and appeared in the People's Advocate. She published many other articles in the major African American journals⁶ of the time. With her writings, Josephine advocated for equality and for the rights of Black women. In her introduction to Women of Distinction, she wrote the following:

God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them  ... need be no trite discussion of the relative superiority or inferiority of the sexes. The claim of equality need not be mistaken for an assertion of perfect likeness  … The true woman takes her place by the side of man as his  companion, his co-worker, his helpmeet, his equal” (pp.107-159).

In her poem "Thoughts of decoration day",⁷ Josephine points to the state of her race and the struggles of Black people, and to a   bright future as shown in these few verses:                                                                                                             

With her literary work, Josephine intentionally captured the life and achievements of Black people to inspire her generation and future generations. In the Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character, she stated: “let us chronicle their deeds in fitting phrase that those who come after may be inspired by the record of what has been wrought to make the most of their liberal opportunities.” (p.151). 

Josephine Turpin Washington died in 1949 but not without positively shaping the experiences and lives of Black people. In addition, she contributed to American literature by adding to the list of 19th century women authors.

References & Footnotes

¹Thomas Jefferson, First Secretary of State of the United States, drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was a two-term president of the United States (1801-1809).

²Institution created to train high school graduates to be teachers.

³Founded at Richmond, Va., in 1867, one of the seven institutions sustained by the American Baptist Home Mission Society for the Education of Teachers and Preachers. Find more in Charles H. Corey's book, Historical Sketch of the Richmond Institute... , New York Public Library

⁴ Frederick Douglass was the first  Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia from May, 1881–August, 1886. Black abolitionist, speaker, and writer. Find more in Frederick Douglass: America's Prophet, by Dilbeck, D. H., New York Public Library

⁵ Only Black  publication in the state of Virginia

⁶Find Josephine’s writings in The Collected Essays of Josephine J. Turpin Washington: A Black Reformer in the Post-Reconstruction South, by Rita  B. Dandridge. Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

⁷ Found in Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character (1857) by Lawson A. Scrugg. Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture