Women Builders
Janie Porter Barrett
Janie Porter Barrett (1865–1948) was reared in Macon, Georgia, in the home of a white woman who employed her mother as a housekeeper. At the age of thirteen Barrett left Georgia to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia. She later became a teacher in a rural community in Georgia for two years, after which she returned to Virginia and married a fellow Hampton graduate. Barrett soon began to offer her home as a gathering place, so that neighborhood children could socialize and learn useful skills like sewing, cooking, and gardening. These clubs became so popular that Barrett and her husband decided to build a clubhouse. In 1908 Barrett was appointed president of the Virginia State Federation of Women, where she worked with troubled girls who were serving time in prison. Barrett's interest in the social welfare and reform of these
girls led to the foundation of the Virginia Industrial School for Colored
Girls, which served as an alternative to prison for many young women.
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