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=                         Alice_Mabel_Bacon                          =
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                            Introduction
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Alice Mabel Bacon (February 26, 1858 – May 1, 1918) was an American
writer, women's educator and a foreign advisor to the Japanese
government in Meiji period Japan.


                             Early life
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Alice Mabel Bacon was the youngest of the three daughters and two sons
of Reverend Leonard Bacon, pastor of the Center Church in New Haven,
Connecticut, professor at the Yale Divinity School, and his second
wife, Catherine Elizabeth Terry. In 1872, when Alice was fourteen,
Japanese envoy Mori Arinori selected her father's home as a residence
for Japanese women being sent overseas for education by the Meiji
government, as part of the Iwakura Mission.  Alice received
twelve-year-old Yamakawa Sutematsu as her house-guest. The two girls
were of similar age, and soon formed a close bond. For ten years the
two girls were like sisters and enhanced each other's interests in
their different cultures.


                        Education and career
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Bacon graduated from high school but was forced to give up hopes of
attending university due to economic circumstances. Nevertheless, she
was able to pass examinations for a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard
University in 1881 and held a post as a teacher at the Hampton
Institute in 1883.

In 1888, Bacon received an invitation to come to Japan from Yamakawa
Sutematsu and Tsuda Ume to serve as a teacher of the English language
at the Gakushuin Women's School (Peeresses' School) for Japanese girls
from aristocratic families. She returned to Hampton Normal School
after a year. Hearing that one of her students wanted to become a
nurse but was refused entrance into training schools because of her
race, Bacon sought to establish a hospital at the institute. With the
help of General Samuel C. Armstrong, Hampton's principal, funds were
raised to construct the Dixie Hospital. The hospital which opened in
May 1891 provided nursing education and medical care for the
surrounding community.


In April 1900, she was invited back to Japan to help establish the
Joshi Eigaku Juku (Women's English Preparatory School), which was the
forerunner of Tsuda College, staying until April 1902. During most of
the period, she assisted Tsuda Umeko, refusing compensation except for
her housing.

Bacon remained single all her life. She adopted two Japanese girls as
her daughters, Umeko's niece Watanabe Mitsu, and Hitotsuyanagi Makiko.
The latter married William Merrell Vories in 1919.

Based on her experiences in Japan, Bacon published three books and
many essays, eventually becoming known as a specialist on Japanese
culture and women. Her last teaching position was at Miss Capen's
School for Girls at Northampton, Massachusetts from 1908 to 1910.


                               Death
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Alice died in her hometown of New Haven, Connecticut on 1 May 1918 at
the age of 60. She was buried at the Grove Street Cemetery.


                               Works
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* 'The Work of the Tuskegee Normal School'  1887
* 'Japanese Girls and Women' (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
1891) [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32449 download on Project
Gutenberg]
* 'A Japanese Interior' (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1893)
* 'The Negro and the Atlantic exposition.'  1896
*


                              Footnote
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:1.Originally there were five girls sent but two became ill and
returned to Japan the other three Yamakawa Sutematsu, Tsuda Ume, and
Nagai Shigeko. Ms. Tsuda was placed with the Charles Lanman family and
Ms. Nagai was placed in the John Stevens Cabot Abbott household.
"Three Japanese Girls." 'The Heathen Woman's Friend.' pp. 286-87.


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Mabel_Bacon