Sarah Collins Fernandis: Author Page
This biography was researched and written by Sarah Thompson, July 2024.
Sarah Collins Fernandis, born on March 8, 1863, in Port Deposit, Maryland, was an educator, poet, and civic leader. The daughter of Caleb Alexander Collins and Mary Jane Driver Collins, Fernandis set a goal early in life to “look up and lift up” both herself and her community. After graduating from Hampton Normal and Institue in 1882, she furthered her education at the New York School of Philanthropy in 1906.
In 1902, she married John A. Fernandis, and together, they committed to improving impoverished African American neighborhoods in the Northeast. Transitioning to more social work, Fernandis spent over forty years advocating for Black communities in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and other East Coast cities. She lectured and wrote extensively on the plight of Black workers, especially women, and she published two volumes of poetry in 1925: Poems and Vision. (The second of these volumes is currently not in our collection; we are working on acquiring it.)
Fernandis’ poems, many of which featured in Southern Workman, addressed social issues (see “The Children’s Open Door”) and honored figures like Booker T. Washington (see “The Torch Bearer”), BIPOC female Red Cross workers during World War I (see “The Cry Supreme”), and Black soldiers in the Spanish-American War and World War I (see “The Troops at Carrizal” and “Our Colored Soldiery” respectively).
Sarah Collins Fernandis enjoyed a long, fruitful life as a public servant and writer, passing away at the age of 88. Her dedication to social welfare earned her national recognition, including an invitation from the surgeon general to join a newly formed Women’s Advisory Council to the United States Public Health Service in Washington.
Works Cited
Honey, Maureen, editor. “Sarah Collins Fernandis (1863–1951).” Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, Rutgers University Press, 2006, pp. 107–10. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1s47747.19. Accessed 2 July 2024.
Smith, Jessie Carney. Notable Black American Women. United States, Gale Research, 1992.