Frances Berry Coston
{{Hatnote|For the American historian with a similar name, see Mary Frances Berry.}}
{{short description|American journalist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Frances Berry Coston
| image = FrancesBerryCoston1909.png
| alt = A Black woman with hair in a bouffant updo
| caption = Frances Berry Coston, from a 1909 publication
| birth_name = Frances Berry
| birth_date = March 1, 1876
| birth_place = Rockholds, Kentucky, U.S.
| death_date = July 19, 1960 (age 84)
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| other_names =
| occupation = Journalist, publicist, suffragist, educator
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| children = 3, including Jean Coston Maloney
| relatives =
}}
Frances M. Berry Coston (March 1, 1876 – July 19, 1960) was an American journalist, publicist, suffragist, and educator based in Indianapolis.
Early life and education
Berry was born in Rockholds, Kentucky, the daughter of James Berry and Mary Berry.{{Cite web |last=Dublin |first=Thomas |title=Biographical Sketch of Frances Berry Coston, 1876-1960|url=https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1012313814 |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=Alexander Street Documents }} She graduated from Berea College and from the Pulitzer School of Journalism at Columbia University. She also studied at the University of Chicago, Butler University, Indiana University, and Harvard University.{{Cite web |last=Verderame |first=Jyoti A. |date=2022-12-15 |title=Frances Berry Coston |url=https://indyencyclopedia.org/frances-berry-costin/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=Encyclopedia of Indianapolis |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=1909-02-21 |title=Teacher Will Speak at Patriotic Meeting |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star-teacher-will-speak/164615612/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis Star |pages=32}}
Career
Coston taught at Kentucky State College, and in the segregated elementary schools of Indianapolis. She was principal of the elementary school at the Indianapolis Asylum for Friendless Colored Children for five years.{{Cite news |date=1924-11-22 |title=3,000 Visit Colored Schools |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-3000-visit-colore/164613070/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=35 |via=Newspapers.com}} In the 1920s she was founder and president of the Educational Aid Society, to "free children from oppression, ignorance and vice,"{{Cite news |last=Watson |first=Bess |date=1960-07-19 |title=Frances Coston Helped Orphans |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-frances-coston-hel/164614157/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} by raising funds for residents of the orphanage to attend high school and college.{{Cite news |date=1926-06-12 |title=Plans Annual Concert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-plans-annual-conce/164612889/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=39 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1926-07-24 |title=Campaign in September; Educational Aid Society Sets Date for Subscription Drive |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-campaign-in-septem/164613493/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=35 |via=Newspapers.com}} She retired from schoolwork in 1951, in her seventies.
Coston became a correspondent and book reviewer for the Indianapolis News in 1912, while still teaching school. "Because of her unusual efficiency and versatile abilities as a writer, she is permitted by the editorial staff to turn out articles on any subject or along any literary line she may desire," noted one profile in 1921.{{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=William Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imEQAQAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Frances%20Berry%20Coston&pg=PA138#v=onepage&q=Frances%20Berry%20Coston&f=false |title=Colored Girls and Boys' Inspiring United States History: And a Heart to Heart Talk about White Folks |date=1921 |pages=139-140|publisher=Searle & Dressler Company, Incorporated |language=en}} She wrote about education{{Cite news |last=Coston |first=Frances Berry |date=1919-06-23 |title=Greater Interest in Education is Shown |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news/24582329/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=16 |via=Newspapers.com}} and Black women's activism,{{Cite news |date=1927-06-29 |title=Zona Gale Sees Day of Race Brotherhood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news/55843844/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=19 |via=Newspapers.com}} including suffrage work.{{Cite news |date=1917-06-06 |title=Colored Women Study Problem of Suffrage; Unity of Purpose Urged by Frances Berry Coston |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-colored-women-stud/164613659/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=20 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1912, Coston attended a women's suffrage meeting at the home of Madame C. J. Walker; she worked with fellow teacher Carrie Barnes Ross organizing suffrage events.{{Cite web |last=Fernando |first=Christine |title='Black history is American history': How Black Hoosiers contributed to suffrage movement |url=https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/2020/08/27/how-black-hoosier-women-contributed-womens-suffrage-movement/3414946001/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |date=2020-08-27|website=The Indianapolis Star |language=en-US}} She was an active member of the Women's Improvement Club,{{Cite news |date=1914-06-20 |title=Improvement Club Elects |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-improvement-club-e/164614991/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=11 |via=Newspapers.com}} the YWCA, the Flanner Guild,{{Cite news |date=1909-02-20 |title=Flanner Guild Speaker |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-flanner-guild-spea/164614861/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=15 |via=Newspapers.com}} and her church. She volunteered as a probation officer in Marion County. During World War I, she was appointed by the War Department as publicity director for "colored women's war work" in Indiana, and hosted an Indianapolis appearance by national women's war work leader Alice Dunbar Nelson.{{Cite journal |date=November 1918 |title=Women's Club Notes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20_VYny8KPwC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Frances%20Berry%20Coston&pg=RA9-PA12#v=onepage&q=Frances%20Berry%20Coston&f=false |journal=The Half Century Magazine |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=12}}{{Cite news |date=1918-09-28 |title=Named Publicity Director |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news/24582130/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=14 |via=Newspapers.com}} In the 1920s, she was publicity chair of the Negro Women’s National Republican League in Indiana, and served as publicity chair for the Indiana Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs for several decades.
Personal life
Berry married George Ellsworth Coston in 1916. They had three children; their daughter Jean Coston Maloney (also known as Jean Lee) became a noted pianist and music educator.{{Cite news |date=1953-02-21 |title=Segregation Bows to Pianist in New Orleans |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-segregation-bows-to-pi/164582920/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |via=Newspapers.com|work=The Afro-American |pages=7}} Her husband died in 1949,{{Cite news |date=1949-08-29 |title=Obituary for George Ellsworth Coston |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-obituary-for-georg/164582246/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News | via=Newspapers.com |pages=7}} and she died in 1960, at the age of 84, at her daughter's home in Chicago.{{Cite news |last=Watson |first=Bess |date=1960-07-19 |title=Frances Coston Helped Orphans |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-frances-coston-hel/164614157/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1960-07-20 |title=Frances Berry Coston |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-frances-berry-cost/164613225/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=22 |via=Newspapers.com}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- Claire Farrington. [https://www.women4changeindiana.org/news/francesberrycoston "Frances Berry Coston"] Women4Change Indiana (February 8, 2024).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coston, Frances Berry }}
Category:Kentucky State University faculty