The Manassas Industrial School / Jennie Dean Memorial

The Manassas Industrial School, also, Jennie Dean Memorial. . , Educational Opportunities for African-Americans were severely limited in Virginia during the late 19th Century. While the doctrine of "separate but equal" facilities for blacks was supposedly law of the land, the reality was very different. African-Americans were continually faced with inferior facilities throughout the South, especially in education. In Northern Virginia, there was no school that met Jennie Dean's goal: to provide black youth with education beyond a rudimentary level along with vocational training., Miss Dean worked for years to gain support for the school both locally and in northern cities that were home to wealthy philanthropists. Despite limited schooling, her persuasive powers were considerable. She not only secured funds but enlisted the support and advocacy of national figures both black and white. Among the well known and influential supporters Jennie Dean cultivated for her school were Oswald Garrison Villard, grandson of abolitionist publisher William Lloyd Garrison; New Yorkers Emily Howland and Frances Hackley; and steel baron Andrew Carnegie.