First African-American woman to graduate from IU
Frances Marshall Eagleson (1898-1987) was the first African-American woman to graduate from Indiana University in 1919 with a degree in English. A native of Rushville, Ind., she married Wilson Vashon Eagleson of Bloomington, who was the first African-American to receive a Master's degree in mathematics at IU. The couple moved to West Virginia, where Wilson Vashon was head of the chemistry department at West Virginia State College Institute. He died in an automobile accident there in 1933, survived by Frances and their two children. Frances Eagleson moved to Florida, then to Durham, North Carolina, to teach at North Carolina Central College. She later served as Registrar at North Carolina Central. She died in 1987.