Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs

This house was the last headquarters of the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, organized in 1907 by educator and social reformer Janie Porter Barrett and other women who attended the annual Hampton Negro Conference. The Federation fostered cooperation among the state’s many African American women’s clubs, which had emerged late in the 19th century to address the needs of women and children and to improve education, health care, home life, and economic opportunity. In 1915 the Federation opened the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls, a rehabilitation center in Hanover County for girls in legal trouble.