First Female Students

The list of students attending Blount College in 1804 included the names of five women: Polly McClung, Barbara Blount, Jennie Armstrong, Mattie Kain, and Kitty Kain. Blount College, now evolved into the University of Tennessee, was thus the first American college to have coeducational classes. The female students are presumed to have been subcollegiate students (as were most of the male students) because of their ages. The coeducational practice ended in 1807. Oberlin admitted women in 1837 and lays proper claim to being the first college in the United States to adopt and continue a policy of coeducation.