Sarah Mapps Douglass
Another leading figure to have paved her own academic success was Sarah Mapps Douglass. She was raised by a wealthy African-American family in Philadelphia by the name Grace Bustill Douglass and Robert Douglass Sr. She was the sister of Robert Douglass Jr. She was also an educator, artist, abolitionist and activist. According to the Colored Conventions, she was home-schooled and later attended an independent school established by her mother and James Forten in 1819 for children of African descent. She furthered her education at the Pennsylvania Medical University, an exploit which was uncommon for an African American during that period in history.
