You might be interested in the following two articles:
1. Evette Perry, T. and Davis-Maye, D. (2007) Bein' Womanish: Womanist Efforts in Child Saving During the Progressive Era: The Founding of Mt. Meigs Reformatory. Affilia, 22(2), 209- 219.
This article highlights the establishment by the Alabama Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in 1907 of Alabama’s first and only reform school for African American youths, the Mt. Meigs Reformatory for Juvenile Negro Lawbreakers. Recognizing that the issues of African American women and the larger African American community were inextricably linked, courageous 19th-century African American women worked within a womanist ideological framework and harnessed their resources to develop purposeful agendas and creative responses to pressing problems in the African American community. Sorely neglected, this legacy begs for the attention of scholars who recognize the value of unearthing historical fragments to create enriched wholes.
You can get this article using the database SAGE Premier 2007 at any of the following NYPL branches/centers:
· Humanities and Social Sciences Library
· New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
· Science, Industry and Business Library
· Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
2. Muth B., Gehring, T. et al. (n.d.) Janie Porter Barrett (1865-1948): Exemplary African American correctional educator. Retrieved online Monday, November 30, 2009 from:
Pages 8 and 9 of this article mention that in 1913, the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs opened a reformatory school for African-American girls in Virginia. During that time, Janie Porter Barrett was president of the federation.