The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
A renowned educator and social reformer, Judia Jackson Harris (center) was instrumental in the creation of both the Mutual Benefit Association and the Model and Training School in Clarke County.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries, James Reap Collection.
Judia Jackson Harris opened the Model and Training School in 1903. The first of its kind in the South, the school combined a model curriculum with a teacher training institute.
From Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Jackson Davis Collection of African American Photographs, #uva-lib-370464.
Established in 1903, Clarke County's Model and Training School reopened in 1926 following a devastating fire. The new schoolhouse was constructed with support from the Rosenwald Foundation. The school closed in 1956 and was placed on Historic Athens' "places in peril" in 2020.
Courtesy of Jane McPherson
