When hired in 1858 at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Woodson became the first African-American woman college instructor. While there she was appointed "Preceptress of English and Latin and Lady Principal and Matron," making her a renowned teacher of English and Latin0. She was also the first African-American to teach at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and the only black woman to teach at an HBCU before the Civil War. Her brother, Rev. Lewis Woodson, was a trustee and founder of the college. It had been established in 1855 to educate black youth, as a collaboration between the white and black leaders of the Cincinnati Methodist conference and the AME Church in Ohio, respectively. Wilberforce closed for two years during the Civil War because of finances. It lost most of its nearly 200 subscription students at the beginning of the war, as they were mostly mixed-race children of wealthy planters from the South, who withdrew them at that time. During the war, the Cincinnati Methodist Conference could not offer its previous level of financial support, as it was called to care for soldiers and families.