[1][2][3][4][5] Working with John J. Bagley, Richards protested against the segregated school system in Detroit; which the Michigan Supreme Court eventually mandated the abolition of in 1871.

That same year she started working at Everett Elementary School, and there established the first kindergarten class in Michigan.

[2][3][4][5] Richards home was added to the State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites on November 14, 1974.

[6] A portrait of Miss Fannie M. Richards, painted by Detroit artist Telitha Cumi Bowens, was included in the 1988–1989 exhibit "Ain't I A Woman" at the Museum of African American History, Detroit.

The exhibit featured a dozen prominent Black women from the state of Michigan, including Ethelene Jones Crockett, M.D., the Honorable Cora M. Brown, and Dr. Violet T.