Myrtilla Miner (March 4, 1815, near Brookfield, New York – December 17, 1864, Washington, DC) was an American educator and abolitionist whose school for African Americans, established against considerable opposition, grew to a successful and long-lived teachers institution.

Miner was educated at the Clover Street Seminary in Rochester, New York (1840-44), and taught at various schools, including the Newton Female Institute (1846-47) in Whitesville, Mississippi, where she was refused permission to conduct classes for African American girls. In 1851, with encouragement from Henry Ward Beecher and a contribution from a Quaker philanthropist, Miner opened the Normal School for Colored Girls in Washington, DC. The school was eventually merged with other local institutions to form the University of the District of Columbia.

(... from Wikipedia on 2009-01-01 00:30:24 )