The Barrett Juvenile Correctional Center, also known as the Barrett Learning Center and originally as the Virginia Industrial Home School for Wayward Colored Girls and then the Virginia Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, was a residential industrial school and later a juvenile correctional facility operated by the state of Virginia near Mechanicsville, Virginia.[2]
Virginia Industrial Home School for Colored Girls | |
 Buildings in the complex | |
   | |
| Location | 11391 Barrett Center Rd., near Mechanicsville, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°42′39″N 77°21′42″W / 37.71083°N 77.36167°W |
| Built | 1915 |
| Architect | Additions by Merrill C. Lee |
| NRHP reference No. | 15000926[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 7, 2016 |
The facility was founded in 1915 as a facility for African-American girls who otherwise faced prison.[3]
History
editThe property was donated by the Virginia Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.[2] The Women's Club worked to provide a nurturing environment to enable the girls to become "respectable, useful women".[4] The facility had the first African-American woman, Janie Porter Barrett, to head such an institution.
The facility was fully integrated by race in 1965, became coed in 1977, and then served an exclusively male population from 1978 until its closure in 2005. The campus has a collection of mid-20th century buildings designed by Richmond architect Merrill C. Lee,[5][6] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.[1] Records for the institution are in the Library of Virginia.[7]
See also
edit- National Register of Historic Places listings in Hanover County, Virginia
- Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls, Social Welfare History Project
References
edit- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b "The Virginia Industrial Home School For Wayward Colored Girls Opens". African American Registry. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "Dedication Ceremony for the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ Jones, Lindsey E. (May 30, 2016). "Intersectional Critiques of the Criminalization of Black Girls, Past & Present". AAIHS. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "June 2015 Listings on the Virginia Landmark Register" (PDF). Virginia DHR. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
- ^ "Barrett Juvenile Correctional Center". State of Virginia. Archived from the original on August 12, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
- ^ "A Guide to the Industrial Home School for Wayward Colored Girls records, 1912-1947 (bulk 1912-1920)". Library of Virginia. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
Further reading
edit- Janie Porter Barrett and the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls: Community Response to the Needs of African American Children, by Wilma Peebles-Wilkins, Child Welfare 74, no. 1 (1995): 143–61