advantages of school which had been denied them through a cruel and barbarous institution. How hard the task was and how well performed need not be dwelt upon here, further than to say that the two sisters are given every advantage possible in the way of education.
For three years she taught in the Marshall and Tate county public schools of Mississippi, attending Rust between the terms. She then went to Arkansas and taught six months in Cleveland county; then returned to Memphis and taught two years in the Shelby county public schools, resigning to take a position in the Memphis city schools in the fall of 1884, which she held for seven years.
It was while teaching in Memphis that she began to write for the public press, appearing first in the Memphis Living Way, for which she wrote some time under the nom de plume of "Iola." She dealt mostly with some one or other of the phases of the race problem, and her views were widely quoted by other newspapers of the country. She became a regular contributor for the Kansas City Gate City Press, the Detroit Plaindealer, the American Baptist, the Christian Index, and other race papers. In June, 1889, she secured a one-third interest in the Memphis Free Speech and became its editor. Messrs. Nightengale and Fleming the former owners of the paper, continued the partnership until January 1, 1892, when Rev. Nightengale sold out to Mr. Fleming and Miss Wells.
Because of utterances of the Free Speech regarding the management of the public schools in 1891 the School Board decided that they could not employ so
