The eldest of the Rollin sisters, Frances Anne Rollin engaged in the struggle for equal rights as an activist, educator, and author. In 1867, she sued a Charleston steamboat captain for refusing to honor her first-class ticket. She won the lawsuit, which was one of the first to be filed under the new civil rights laws enacted during Reconstruction.
While pursuing her case, Rollin met Maj. Martin Delany, who was working with the Freedmen’s Bureau in Charleston. The renowned abolitionist hired Rollin to write his biography, which was published in 1868. That same year, Rollin married William J. Whipper, a South Carolina state legislator. She continued her educational work, teaching at Avery Institute in Charleston and later in public schools in Washington, D.C.
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