Frances V. Rummell (November 14, 1907 - May 11, 1969) was an educator and columnist who is known posthumously as the author and publisher of the first explicitly lesbian autobiography in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Early life

Frances Virginia Rummell was born in Brookfield, Missouri on November 14, 1907. She was the daughter of Lander Warfield Rummell and Minnie Alice Roberts. She was the second youngest of five children, though her sister Maurine died before Frances was born. She grew up in Missouri and lived with her paternal grandmother, Josephine McCoy, her parents, two brothers, and her grandmother's housekeeper. Her father, Lander, owned a clothing store until he committed suicide in 1918, when Frances was only ten years old. He died by taking poison. By 1930, Rummell had moved to Columbia, Missouri with her grandmother, mother, older brother, and younger sister.

Education

Rummell graduated from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

. Her master's thesis was "The status of women in the plays of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

.” After college, Rummell traveled to Paris to study at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in 1931. Supposedly, on her return she smuggled a copy of ''Ulysses'' into the U.S.

Career

Rummell taught

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

Stephens College Stephens College is a private women's college in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second-oldest women's educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United S