Frances Reynolds Keyser (b. 1862 – d. 1932)
Born in Georgia around 1862, Keyser attended school in New York City and graduated from the Normal College (now Hunter College) in 1880, with honors in French and the second-highest average in Latin. She began her teaching career at the New York Evening School before traveling south to teach in both Maryland and Florida. Later, Keyser returned to New York to work with the White Rose Home, a social work agency focused on African American women, where she became superintendent. In 1912, she returned south and taught at the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls, founded by African American educator and civil rights activist Dr. Mary Jane McLeod Bethune. She worked at the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls for 12 years until she retired and returned to New York City.
Outside of her role as a dedicated educator, Frances Reynolds Keyser was also a board member of the Young Women’s Christian Association, an officer in the National Association of Colored Women, the founder and first president of the Empire State Federation of Women’s Clubs, and active in the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. She was also a member of the first executive committee of the NAACP.
Additional Sources:
RICHES MI University of Central Florida Short Biography: https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/5183
Alexander Street Short Biography: https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C3893472/biography-frances-reynolds-keyser-1862-1932#page/1/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity|bibliographic_details|3893472
Bethune Cookman Yearbook: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1260&context=cfm-texts
