Teacher, school principal, and civic worker; widow of Henry Highland Garnet.
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Educated by her grandmother, Sylvia Hobbs, she began teaching at the age of fourteen in an African Free School established by the Manumission Society in Williamsburgh, N.Y. Her first teaching assignment in public school was the principalship of a grammar school in New York City, subsequently called P.S. 80. She served continuously from her appointment in 1863 to her retirement in 1900. She was the first black woman to be a principal in the NYC public schools and she began a night school program.
She married an Episcopal minister at St. Matthew Free Church of Brooklyn and she remained an Episcopalian all her life. He died and she married Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist. She was widowed in 1882.
She was a founder of the Equal Suffrage Club, a group of black women in Brooklyn who worked for political rights for women. She joined the National Association of Colored Women and was a delegate to the Universal Races Congress in London.
Two children died at a young age. Her sister, Susan Maria Smith McKinney Stewart (1845-1918) graduated from NY Medical School for Women and Children and was a doctor in Brooklyn and at Wilberforce University in Ohio.
Information from Notable American Women 1607-1950: a Biographical Dictionary with the entry by Leedell W. Neyland
The house in Greenwich Village where Garnet lived for about 10 years, when that Manhattan neighborhood was called "the center of Black life in New York City," was owned by Jacob Day, another highly distinguished Black leader. As of 2024, preservationists are seeking to have it landmarked and saved from demolition. Located at 50 W. 13th St, the building dates to 1846, and in modern times was also the longtime home of the 13th Street Repertory Theatre.
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Educated by her grandmother, Sylvia Hobbs, she began teaching at the age of fourteen in an African Free School established by the Manumission Society in Williamsburgh, N.Y. Her first teaching assignment in public school was the principalship of a grammar school in New York City, subsequently called P.S. 80. She served continuously from her appointment in 1863 to her retirement in 1900. She was the first black woman to be a principal in the NYC public schools and she began a night school program.
She married an Episcopal minister at St. Matthew Free Church of Brooklyn and she remained an Episcopalian all her life. He died and she married Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist. She was widowed in 1882.
She was a founder of the Equal Suffrage Club, a group of black women in Brooklyn who worked for political rights for women. She joined the National Association of Colored Women and was a delegate to the Universal Races Congress in London.
Two children died at a young age. Her sister, Susan Maria Smith McKinney Stewart (1845-1918) graduated from NY Medical School for Women and Children and was a doctor in Brooklyn and at Wilberforce University in Ohio.
Information from Notable American Women 1607-1950: a Biographical Dictionary with the entry by Leedell W. Neyland
The house in Greenwich Village where Garnet lived for about 10 years, when that Manhattan neighborhood was called "the center of Black life in New York City," was owned by Jacob Day, another highly distinguished Black leader. As of 2024, preservationists are seeking to have it landmarked and saved from demolition. Located at 50 W. 13th St, the building dates to 1846, and in modern times was also the longtime home of the 13th Street Repertory Theatre.
Teacher, school principal, and civic worker; widow of Henry Highland Garnet.
-------------------------
Educated by her grandmother, Sylvia Hobbs, she began teaching at the age of fourteen in an African Free School established by the Manumission Society in Williamsburgh, N.Y. Her first teaching assignment in public school was the principalship of a grammar school in New York City, subsequently called P.S. 80. She served continuously from her appointment in 1863 to her retirement in 1900. She was the first black woman to be a principal in the NYC public schools and she began a night school program.
She married an Episcopal minister at St. Matthew Free Church of Brooklyn and she remained an Episcopalian all her life. He died and she married Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist. She was widowed in 1882.
She was a founder of the Equal Suffrage Club, a group of black women in Brooklyn who worked for political rights for women. She joined the National Association of Colored Women and was a delegate to the Universal Races Congress in London.
Two children died at a young age. Her sister, Susan Maria Smith McKinney Stewart (1845-1918) graduated from NY Medical School for Women and Children and was a doctor in Brooklyn and at Wilberforce University in Ohio.
Information from Notable American Women 1607-1950: a Biographical Dictionary with the entry by Leedell W. Neyland
The house in Greenwich Village where Garnet lived for about 10 years, when that Manhattan neighborhood was called "the center of Black life in New York City," was owned by Jacob Day, another highly distinguished Black leader. As of 2024, preservationists are seeking to have it landmarked and saved from demolition. Located at 50 W. 13th St, the building dates to 1846, and in modern times was also the longtime home of the 13th Street Repertory Theatre.
-------------------------
Educated by her grandmother, Sylvia Hobbs, she began teaching at the age of fourteen in an African Free School established by the Manumission Society in Williamsburgh, N.Y. Her first teaching assignment in public school was the principalship of a grammar school in New York City, subsequently called P.S. 80. She served continuously from her appointment in 1863 to her retirement in 1900. She was the first black woman to be a principal in the NYC public schools and she began a night school program.
She married an Episcopal minister at St. Matthew Free Church of Brooklyn and she remained an Episcopalian all her life. He died and she married Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist. She was widowed in 1882.
She was a founder of the Equal Suffrage Club, a group of black women in Brooklyn who worked for political rights for women. She joined the National Association of Colored Women and was a delegate to the Universal Races Congress in London.
Two children died at a young age. Her sister, Susan Maria Smith McKinney Stewart (1845-1918) graduated from NY Medical School for Women and Children and was a doctor in Brooklyn and at Wilberforce University in Ohio.
Information from Notable American Women 1607-1950: a Biographical Dictionary with the entry by Leedell W. Neyland
The house in Greenwich Village where Garnet lived for about 10 years, when that Manhattan neighborhood was called "the center of Black life in New York City," was owned by Jacob Day, another highly distinguished Black leader. As of 2024, preservationists are seeking to have it landmarked and saved from demolition. Located at 50 W. 13th St, the building dates to 1846, and in modern times was also the longtime home of the 13th Street Repertory Theatre.
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