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74 GU I D E to Y E L L OW S P R I NG S | 2O22 – 2O23 An Antiochian legacy— BOLD, INNOVATIVE: YELLOW SPRINGS WOMEN By DIANE CHIDDISTER From February 1986 Historically, Yellow Springs has been the home of many bold and innovative women. This tendency was heightened by the presence of Antioch College, which, in 1853, became the first coeducational institution of higher education to provide women with educa- tion status equal to men. Innovative educator and Antioch President Horace Mann devoted half of his inaugural address to the importance of educating women, according to Antio - chiana records. Several years later, when asked his opinion of the intellectual capabili- ties of women as compared to men, Mann replied: “My observations and experiences teach me that the capaci- ties of the two sexes are not equal. In the greater number of cases, the female is supe - rior to the male.” Female members of the first graduating class did nothing to prove Horace Mann wrong. A particularly brilliant and colorful member of Antioch’s first graduat - ing class — in which three women and 12 men received their degrees in 1857 — was Ada Shepard, a favorite of Mann’s who, after graduation, traveled Europe as govern- ess to the family of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Believed to have provided the model for one of Hawthorne’s fictional heroines, Shepard was also remembered as having acted as the medium at a seance attended by Robert and Eliza - beth Barrett Browning. After marrying Antioch classmate Henry Clay Badger, Shepard returned to her alma mater to teach modern lan- guages. Later she left Yellow Springs for Boston where she opened a girls’ school. Her life led to a tragic ending, however, as, reportedly fear - ing insanity, she drowned herself at the age of 39. Eliza Conner, a member of the Antioch class of 1861, later distinguished herself as one of the leading journalists of her generation, serving as literary editor of the New York World, beginning in 1884. Another distinguished alumna was Olympia Brown, who, after graduating in 1861, became the first Amer - ican woman to be ordained as a minister, working at the Universalist Church in Weymouth, Mass.. A lifelong feminist, Brown toured the country with Jane Addams in the 1860s promoting women’s suffrage. While Antioch played a role in the lives of many who became active in the struggle for women’s rights, its own atmosphere may have been less than a hotbed of femi- nism. According to a journal kept by an anonymous female student in the college’s first years: “Ultra women’s rights supporters who came here fixed on becoming President, ▲ Ada Shepard, one of three women in Antioch College’s first graduating class, 1857. ▲ Eliza Conner, an 1861 graduate, distinguished herself as a leading journalist of her generation. ▲ Rebecca Rice, an 1860 graduate of the college, returned to teach mathematics and astronomy. An 1860 Antioch gradu- ate, Rebecca Rice, after whom Rice Road was named, returned to Yellow Springs in 1872 as a professor of math and astronomy at Antioch, and in 1888 became the first woman to serve on the board of trustees of a co-educa- tional college, a post she held for ten years. Rebecca Rice is buried in the Yellow Springs cemetery. Ye Olde Trail Tavern O hiO ’ s O ldest t avern s ince 1827 228 XENIA AVE. 937-767-7448 Jewelry • Clothing • Home Accents Gifts for All Occasions 230 Xenia | 937-767-1628 A Collection of UniqUe TreAsUres From Abroad