Her name was Janie Porter. She was born just as the American Civil War came to a close. Growing up in Macon, Georgia, Janie was an exemplary student, eventually graduating with honors from Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Janie took her teaching degree seriously, accepting a position in rural Georgia. Five years later, she met and married Harris Barnett, a Virginia businessman.
Disturbed by the plight of African American children, who grew up in squalid conditions, often ending up in jail at the age of 7 or 8, Janie determined to do something about the problem, which she viewed as a moral crisis. She began a fund-raising campaign throughout the state of Virginia. The money was used to build what was then called “a home for wayward girls” – the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls. In today’s world, it would be referred to as a juvenile detention facility.