Frances A. Rollin, the political activist, teacher, and author, along with her four sisters, was very instrumental in politics during the Reconstruction Era. Frances was born in 1844, in Charleston, South Carolina, to free color people. This consisted of a small group of families that were related by blood or marriage, and were notably wealthy and owned value property, including slaves. They were fair-skinned, well-educated, and conducted themselves in a well mannered and respectable way. They also controlled what literary material was read, and established their own organization. One of the organization that were established was the Brown Fellowship society. This society was developed in 1790 and was only open to free light skin men. Frances' father, William, was a member. There is little known about her mother. William Rollin was an offspring from the Haitian French, and came from one of the most honorable families in Santo Domingo. In addition he was a wealthy wood and lumber dealer, and owned value property, such as slaves. He stood firm on his principle that all his daughters receive a first rate education. Frances, the eldest, was sent to Philadelphia to take the " ladies course" at the Quaker Institute for Colored Youth, where she began her career as a writer and an advocate for feminism, and civil rights. After returning to Charleston, South Carolina, Frances taught at schools supported by the American Missionary Association. Also Frances and her sister advocated for women rights and suffrage, by recruiting well-to-do black and white Republicans' wives to join them in the fight. Katherine and Charlotte arranged a women's rights convention that was held in 1870 in Columbia, South Carolina, as well as established the South Carolina Branch of the American Woman Suffrage Association.