Last updated: January 27, 2022
Person
Janie (Porter) Barrett
THE CRISIS (1913), image via Library of Virginia
Quick Facts
Significance:
Educator and reformer
Place of Birth:
Athens, GA
Date of Birth:
9 August 1865
Place of Death:
Hampton, VA
Date of Death:
27 August 1948
Place of Burial:
Hampton, VA
Cemetery Name:
Elmerton Cemetery
"I can't realize that I am to graduate this term, it seem to me that I have first found out how little I know. One thing I am thankful for that I am fond of reading and if I never get a chance to go to school again I can learn a great deal from reading."
- Janie Porter to Alice Longfellow, January 1884. Alice Mary Longfellow Papers.
Janie (Porter) Barrett, born in Athens, Georgia to a formerly enslaved woman just after the end of the Civil War, advocated for the rights and education of Black girls and women. After graduation she taught at Hampton and industrial schools in Georgia. She married a fellow Hampton student, writing in an 1893 update: “In the fall of '89, I married Mr. Harris Barrett, class of '85, and now have the pleasure of knowing that our little cottage is going up in sight of the dear old Hampton School grounds, where some of my happiest days were spent."
From her home in Hampton, Barrett founded the Locust Street Settlement House, serving her local Black community with classes, childcare, entertainments, and lectures. Her reform work was recognized by Jane Addams of Hull House in Chicago.
Harris Barrett died in 1915, and the same year, Janie Barrett founded the "Industrial school for Wayward Colored Girls" near Hanover, Virginia, with the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. This reform school served Black girls, providing education and domestic training for girls paroled from the prison system. To support the school, Barrett raised money from private sources including members of Black and white women's clubs in Virginia. Prominent among these was Maggie Lena Walker, who served on the Board of Managers from 1920 to 1933. Barrett served as the superintendent from its founding until 1940; the school was renamed the Janie Porter Barrett School for Girls in 1950.
Anne Firor Scott,"Janie Aurora Porter Barrett (1865–1948)," Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia (1998– ), published 1998, rev. 2019. Online.
“Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls.” VCU Libraries Social Welfare History Project. Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Locust Street Settlement House.” VCU Libraries Social Welfare History Project. Virginia Commonwealth University.