Anna Åfelt was born on 16 January 1817, in Vinslöv, Scania, Sweden, to a 22-year-old single mother, Benita Svensdotter.
Being the child of an unmarried mother in the 19th century put them both in a precautious situation legally and socially.
When the state elementary public schooling was introduced in 1842, all of its teachers were required to have a teaching degree.
She applied for a dispensation, and in 1847 was the first woman to gain a primary school teaching degree in Lund.
[1] In 1942, on the 100th anniversary of the Swedish public schools' establishment, a memorial stone was built on her grave in Önnestad cemetery.