Carpentry class, Manassas Industrial School, circa 1961

Carpentry class, Manassas Industrial School, circa 1961

Jennie Dean, born a slave in Prince William County, founded the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth. The school, a private facility which offered academic subjects as well as skilled trade courses, opened in October 1894. From 1938 until 1966, it was a segregated regional high school for African Americans living in Northern Virginia. African Americans from almost half of Virginia had connections to the Manassas Industrial School.

Courtesy of the Manassas Museum System, Manassas, Virginia

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