Jennie Cora Clough
and Sarah Ella Wilson:
Worcester Normal School, which later became Worcester State University, was the
alma mater of Worcester’s first African-American schoolteachers: Jennie Cora
Clough and Sarah Ella Wilson. Although nearly 20 years separated the women, both
became influential members of the Worcester community.
Jennie Clough,
who graduated in January 1878, was born in 1857 to one of Worcester’s most
prominent African-American families. Her grandfather, Peter Rich, had been born
a slave in Lancaster, Mass. As a young man he moved to Worcester, where he
became one of only three "colored" property owners
in the community.
Jennie’s father, Francis A. Clough, ran a popular barber shop that attracted
many white customers. Her brother, Benjamin, became Worcester’s first
African-American postman.
A graduate of Worcester’s English and Classical High School before qualifying
for admittance to Worcester Normal School, Jennie did her apprentice teaching at
the Sycamore Street and Ledge Street schools.
She began teaching in 1881 at the Thomas Street Primary School, which had been
the Worcester School for Colored Children until the mid-1850s. In 1882, the mix
of nationalities in Jennie’s class was listed as 58% Irish, 21% American, 12%
Canadian, and 6% English.
In 1889, Jennie moved to the Providence Street School, where she taught for
another four years. She served her alma mater by hosting a number of teacher
apprentices in her classrooms over the years. She also wrote a song about
Worcester Normal School for a school reunion held in June 1886. (See below.)
Jennie’s teaching career ended in 1893 when she married George Alfred Busby.
(Female teachers were not allowed to be married.)
G. Alfred Busby was elected to the City Board of Aldermen in 1902, becoming
Worcester’s first black city councilman.
Jennie bore two children,
Alan Thacker (December 12, 1895) and George Clough (November 25, 1897). She
passed away on May 11, 1928, at age 71.
Sarah Wilson
graduated from Worcester Normal School in January 1894. She devoted her life to
teaching and to promoting racial equality.
Born in 1873, she was the first child of George and Elizabeth Wilson, freed
slaves from North Carolina. The couple had been resettled in Worcester by Lucy
and Sarah Chase, prominent abolitionists, following the Emancipation
Proclamation of 1863. 
Sarah Chase took an active interest in her namesake, introducing her to art and
literature, while Sarah Wilson’s mother taught her daughter Christian beliefs
and values.
Sarah became an apprentice and then a first-grade teacher at the Belmont Street
School, where she worked for 49 years, from 1895 until her retirement in 1944.
During those years she was active in a number of local and national
organizations.
Locally, Sarah was a member of the Bethel A.M.E. Church, for which she served as
vice-president of the Missionary Association, then of the St. Andrews Methodist
Episcopal Church. She was involved with the Levana Club for Teachers and the
Women’s Service Club of the YWCA.
Sarah was also a founding member of the Home for the Colored and Aged, for which
she served as auditor, publicity agent, and vice president, and was active in
the Worcester Inter-racial Council, which worked to remove racial barriers to
housing, employment, healthcare, and recreation.
Nationally, Sarah served as secretary for the Northeastern Federation of Colored
Women. This organization served as a voice for African-American women,
especially on the issue of suffrage.
Sarah Wilson, a lifelong teacher and champion of social justice, passed away on
November 1, 1955. She is still remembered in small ways within the Worcester
community. In 1972, the Belmont Street Community School named its library after
her. And in 1974, Corrine Bostic,
commissioned by the YWCA, published a book about Sarah Wilson titled
Onward and Upward!
The book’s title is an apt description of the indomitable spirit of Worcester’s
first two African-American schoolteachers.
Reunion Song
by Jennie Cora Clough
June 25, 1886
I.
High upon a lofty hill-top,
Where the breezes cool,
Greet us e’er we reach the summit,
Stands our dear old school.
Chorus.
Welcome, school-mates! Welcome, teachers!
Welcome o’er and o’er!
We’ll hail with joy each happy day,
That brings us here once more.
II.
Ah! What pleasant memories linger
As the years take flight;
May happy hours, that now are past,
Remain forever bright.
Chorus.
Welcome, school-mates, etc.
III.
And now, tonight, we meet once more
Within these dear old walls;
We’ll live again the happy days,
Sweet memory recalls.
Chorus.
Welcome, school-mates, etc.
IV.
Then let us bind with strongest chains,
The friendship founded here;
And though the parting hour must come,
We’ll re-unite each year.
Chorus.
Welcome, school-mates, etc.