Locust Street Literary and Athletic Club Constitution

Janie Porter Barrett was born in Athens, Georgia on August 9, 1865. Her mother was a domestic servant and seamstress in the antebellum south. Janie made her way to Virginia and was educated at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, which would become the historically Black institution now known as Hampton University. She would go on to teach in Georgia and Virginia before marrying her husband, Harriet Barrett in 1889 and having her four children.

She and her family would settle in an all-Black neighborhood called Locust Street, where she and her husband would found the Locust Street Social Settlement House in 1890. From their home, the Barretts would start clubs and classes that aided in the development and education of young African American girls and boys in the domestic and agricultural vocations. This provided the youths of the community with not only education, but also a place to go within the neighborhood where they were encouraged to play games and give back to the community.

In 1902 the Barretts were able to move the Settlement from their house to an actual clubhouse they had built. In following years, one of the clubs they established was the Locust Street Literary and Athletic Club of Hampton. The club developed a constitution that was written in 1910, which laid out principles and precedents within the organization. This shows the Barretts' level of detail and commitment to the youths of their community. They were not only teaching the children practical skills but also providing them with knowledge that they may not have gotten in segregated schools at that time.

Janie Porter Barrett would help found the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in 1908. She would enlist the federation, the Virginia Assembly, and the National Association of Colored Women to take up the cause of helping “wayward” girls with the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls in 1915. They would purchase a farm north of Richmond in Hanover County where she would give them a good place to stay and domestic, vocational, and agricultural skills so they would not be exploited by unfair employers.

Later in life she would work with the Virginia Commission on Interracial Cooperation, the Richmond Urban League, and the National Association of Colored Women until her death in August of 1948. After her death the Virginia Assembly the school for girls in Hanover the Janie Porter Barrett School for Girls, which was a testament to legacy and all she did for African Americans and women at a time when both were disparaged.