Jessie Redmon Fauset was born into an affluent family in New Jersey. As a young adult, she attended Cornell University, and graduated in 1905. A year later she began teaching French and Latin in Washington, D.C. In 1919 she received her Master's degree in French from the University of Pennsylvania. During this time she also studied at the Sorbonne to perfect her skills. Between 1919 and 1926 she worked as the literary editor of the NAACP's magazine The Crisis. As editor she wrote articles herself and she also worked with famous writers like Langston Hughes and Jean Toomer.