05/29/2026
Meet Khatun. She's the woman at the left of the frame, surrounded by schoolchildren. Armed with her education from Fiske Seminary, Khatun became a teacher herself, molding and developing the minds of the local children.
Fiske Seminary was the first school for girls in Iran. The institution bears the name of its beloved first mistress, Fidelia Fiske, who arrived in Urmia in 1843 and promptly took over the girls school there—it had been organized five years earlier by the Presbyterian mission, but had lost its director in the interim years. She spent 15 years serving as a missionary among the Nestorians in Urmia before returning to the U.S. in 1858 with the hope of recovering her health. She was unfortunately never able to return to Iran before she died on August 9, 1864.
Fiske Seminary, in her absence, continued to enroll and graduate students through the mid-20th century, rebuilding in 1919 after the destruction caused by World War I. The impact of this school is undoubtable: by 1885, 600 girls had learned to read and write at Fiske Seminary. The graduates spread themselves across their community, becoming teachers themselves and educating the local youth as Fidelia had instructed them.
This AAPI Heritage Month, we honor the legacy of Fiske, yes--but also the lives and influence of the various women graduates of the school, who then dedicated themselves to helping the next generation develop both their educations and their selves. The stories of women like Khatun, seen here with her students in Kurdistan.
