Coleman née Howard was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, on July 3, 1870, the oldest of four children of an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister.

[6] The Bethlehem House provided a kindergarten, sewing schools, and Bible story hour, among other services.

[7] In a speech as CME Connectional Ministry Council president, Coleman called upon the male church hierarchy for "an equal chance" to do the work "that is justly ours."

When Coleman addressed the first meeting of the CME Woman's Connectional Missionary Council in 1918, she observed, "There has always been a close relationship between the sisters of the M.E.

With Juno Frankie Pierce and others, she worked to register over 2,500 African-American women to vote in the 1919 Nashville municipal elections.