These profiles of women connected to Hopkinsville provide a celebration of Women’s History Month during the United States’ 250th anniversary year.
Nancy “Nannie” Jones — 1860 – 1939
Nannie Jones was born in Hopkinsville and grew up in Memphis. She graduated from Fisk University in 1886 and also attended Lemoyne Institute, a school for African Americans in Memphis. While still in college, she taught in Alpika, Mississippi, and later joined the First Colored Baptist Church in Memphis. Nannie became the first unmarried Black woman commissioned by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1888, she traveled to Kambini in Inhambane, Mozambique.
In Kambini, she met up again with her Fisk classmates, Benjamin and Henrietta Ousley. Together, they started a school where children learned to read, practice their faith and gain practical skills. The students also worked two hours each day to help provide food and clothing. When the Ousleys left for a time due to health issues, Nannie kept the mission running. After the station closed under Portuguese rule, she moved to the Gazaland Mission in Rhodesia.
There, under British rule and complicated missionary politics, Nannie was isolated. As the only Black missionary, she was not allowed to share housing, lost her classroom duties, and was given domestic chores instead. She stayed until 1897, when she returned to Memphis to rest and began teaching again. Records show she lived at 400 Broadway and cared for a young African girl named Mary Jones, who came to America with her…