Jane Serepta Dean was born into slavery in northern Virginia, freed as a result of the American Civil War, and became an important founder of churches and Sunday Schools for African Americans in northern Virginia.
19 Facts About Jennie Dean
2.
Jennie Dean was born to Charles Dean and his wife Annie, both of them African Americans born enslaved and owned by the Newman family, and later by the Cushing family.
3.
Jennie Dean had two sisters, both of whom married after the American Civil War, although Jennie Dean herself never married.
4.
Jennie Dean's sister Ella's death certificate lists Jennie's birth date as April 15,1848, but another death certificate indicates Jennie Dean as born in 1853.
5.
Jennie Dean sent most of her wages home, which not only helped her family buy the farm they wanted and cope with her father's death, but allowed her sister Ella to attend the Wayland Seminary and become a teacher.
6.
Jennie Dean was concerned that they would become stuck in low-wage jobs, as well as succumb to alcoholism and other social ills.
7.
Jennie Dean tried to address this problem in part through her faith, and by helping to organize congregations.
8.
Meanwhile, Jennie Dean traveled around northern Virginia on weekends in a horse-drawn surrey and offered African-American youth instruction in what later would be called Victorian values, as well as in skilled trades.
9.
In 1878, Jennie Dean founded what would be the first of more than a dozen Sunday schools.
10.
Jennie Dean continued fundraising for Sunday Schools and other improvement activities, especially during winters.
11.
Jennie Dean first sought employment and fundraising opportunities in Washington, DC, and later with extended trips to New York City, and even in Boston, Massachusetts.
12.
Jennie Dean made the acquaintance of Oswald Garrison Villard, publisher of the New York Evening Post, who published a favorable biography of Dean, made many donations to programs she advocated, and in 1905 became chairman of the board of Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth.
13.
In Boston, Jennie Dean made the acquaintance of Edward Everett Hale, who not only donated money, but opened social doors to Jennie Dean, including to Rev Phillips Brooks and his Episcopalian congregation.
14.
In January 1893, Jennie Dean was invited to speak to a Women's Suffrage convention in Washington.
15.
Jennie Dean took the title of financial agent, and served on the board of directors and executive committee.
16.
On February 14,1906, Jennie Dean visited the White House to meet President Theodore Roosevelt, at the invitation of Booker T Washington, to whom the President favorably compared Dean.
17.
In 1908 Jennie Dean found herself pushed out of the school's management, after a critical report by accountants whom Villard had hired.
18.
Meanwhile, Jennie Dean's health had deteriorated after a stroke, and she became nearly confined to her home.
19.
Jennie Dean died after suffering another stroke on May 3,1913.