Josephine Silone Yates (1852 or November 15, 1859 - September 3, 1912), trained in chemistry, was one of the first black teachers hired at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, college science department. She may have been the first black woman to hold a full professorship at any U.S. college or university. Yates was also significant in the African-American women's club movement. She was a correspondent for the Woman's Era (the first monthly magazine published by black women in the United States) and wrote for other magazines as well. She was instrumental in establishing women's clubs for African-American women: she was the first president of the Women's League of Kansas City (1893) and the second president of the National Association of Colored Women (1900-04). In 1902, she was recalled by the president of Lincoln Institute to serve as the head of the department of English and history. In 1908 she requested to resign due to illness, but the Board of Regents did not accept, and she stayed on as the advisor to women at Lincoln. She died in 1912, after a short illness.