Janie Porter Barrett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Janie Porter Barrett
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Janie Porter Barrett, circa 1922
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| Born |
Janie Porter
August 9, 1865 Athens, Georgia
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| Died | August 27, 1948 (aged 83) Hampton, Virginia
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Hampton Institute |
| Occupation | Educator, Activist |
| Known for | founder of the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs |
| Spouse(s) |
Harris Barrett
(m. 1889) |
Janie Porter Barrett (born Janie Porter; August 9, 1865 – August 27, 1948) was an American social worker and educator. She helped improve society and education for many people.
Janie Barrett started the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls. This was a special center that helped young African-American girls get back on track. She also founded the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.
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Janie Barrett's Early Life
Janie Porter Barrett was born in Athens, Georgia, on August 9, 1865. Her mother, Julia, had been a slave. Janie's father is not known, but he may have been white. This is because Janie had fair skin.
A white family called the Skinners hired Janie's mother. Julia worked for them as a housekeeper and seamstress. The Skinners treated Janie very well. They educated her alongside their own children.
Janie learned about books and math. She also met many important and educated people. Her childhood was different from most African-American children at that time.
Janie's mother married a railway worker. She still worked for the Skinners, but Janie kept living with them. Mrs. Skinner wanted to become Janie's legal guardian. She hoped to send Janie to a school in the northern U.S.A. where Janie could live as a white person.
However, Janie's mother, Julia, did not agree with this plan. Instead, she sent Janie to the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. There, Janie would live and learn as a black person in a black community.
Learning at Hampton Institute
Janie had never lived among African-Americans before going to the Hampton Institute. She also had to do manual labor for the first time. Hampton Institute focused on job training. Women learned about good behavior and housekeeping. This prepared them to be wives or domestic workers.
Janie slowly got used to the system at the Institute. She was inspired by a book about a well-off woman who helped others. While at Hampton, Janie started to volunteer for community projects. These projects helped people in need.
Janie trained to be an elementary school teacher at the Institute. Hampton taught her to love her race, her fellow people, and her country. This gave her a strong sense of duty to help her community.
Janie Barrett's Career
Janie Barrett graduated from the Hampton Institute in 1885. She first worked as a teacher in a country school in Dawson, Georgia. Then she taught at Lucy Craft Laney's Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta, Georgia.
From 1886 to 1889, she taught night classes at the Hampton Institute. In 1889, she married Harris Barrett. He was the Institute's cashier and bookkeeper. They had four children together.
Starting the Locust Street Social Settlement
Soon after she got married, Janie Barrett started a small day care and sewing class. She held these classes at her home in Hampton. The classes quickly grew into a club. This club worked to make home and community life better.
In October 1890, it became a formal group called the Locust Street Social Settlement. This was the first settlement organization for African Americans in the USA.
In 1902, the Barretts built a separate building on their land for the Settlement. It hosted many activities. These included clubs, fun activities, and classes on home skills. Students and teachers from Hampton Institute helped them. They also found people, mostly from the northern U.S.A., who donated money to the settlement. By 1909, the settlement had clubs for children, women, and older people.
Virginia Industrial School for Girls
In 1908, Janie Barrett helped create the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. She was its first president. This Federation offered many social services. It helped create good places for children to live. This kept them out of places like jails and poorhouses.
For several years after 1911, the Federation raised money. They wanted to build a school for young African-American girls who were being sent to jail. They planned to buy land after five years of fundraising.
However, in 1914, Janie read in a newspaper about an eight-year-old girl. This girl had been sentenced to six months in jail. Janie immediately asked the judge in Newport News, Virginia, to send the girl to the Weaver Orphan Home in Hampton. Janie was living there at the time. The judge agreed to release the child into Janie's care.
The Federation quickly raised $5,300. They bought a 147-acre (0.59 km2) farm in Hanover County, Virginia. They then officially started their center.
A New Kind of School
The center was a place to help young African-American girls who needed guidance. It was first called the Industrial Home for Wayward Girls. It opened in January 1915 with 28 students. After a few name changes, it became known as the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls.
With advice from many important social workers, the school created a special program. It focused on teaching girls to be self-reliant and disciplined. The school offered regular classes and job training. It also used rewards, "big-sister" guidance, and paid close attention to each girl's needs.
In 1915 and 1916, the Virginia Assembly gave more money to the school. Janie Barrett was named secretary of the board of trustees. Around this time, Harris Barrett, her husband, passed away. Janie also turned down a job offer from Tuskegee Institute. She then became the superintendent at the Industrial School. One of her fellow trustees was Mary-Cooke Branch Munford, who had helped start the school.
Janie Barrett was deeply involved in every part of the Industrial School's program. She managed the system that allowed girls to leave the school. Girls who showed they were responsible were placed in carefully chosen foster homes. These girls also got jobs and continued to receive support. This support included guidance, a newsletter called The Booster, and personal letters.
The school used an honor system and did not use physical punishment. A special part of Janie's work was that each girl had her own bank account. This way, each girl had some money when she left the school.
Janie Barrett was excellent in her role at the school. Her childhood helped her work with the important white women on the trustee board. These women could influence state lawmakers to give money to the school. She believed that the best social work happened when both races worked together. She was so respected that she could ask future white employers to treat her students kindly.
In the early 1920s, the Russell Sage Foundation rated the Industrial School as one of the five best schools of its kind in the USA. At that time, about 100 girls were enrolled. The school became a model for others. Many young women were successfully helped. They found jobs and got married after leaving the school. The school was especially known for teaching good character and morals.
In 1920, the state of Virginia took over financial responsibility for the school. The state and the Federation shared supervision until 1942. After that, the Virginia Department of Welfare and Institutions supervised it alone.
Other Achievements and Legacy
In 1929, Janie Barrett received the William E. Harmon Award. This award recognized great achievements among African Americans. In 1930, she took part in the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection.
She served as the president of the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs for twenty-five years. She also led the executive board of the National Association of Colored Women for four years.
Janie Barrett retired in 1940. She passed away in Hampton on August 27, 1948.
In 1950, Janie Barrett's training school was renamed the Janie Porter Barrett School for Girls. In 1965, it became open to all races. The Virginia Industrial School was known as the Barrett Learning Center until 2005.
Images for kids
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Janie Porter Barrett, circa 1922
