"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : JANE SEREPTA DEAN

Although Jane was born into slavery in Northern Virginia, she never let it keep her from striving to better herself, her immediate family, and her Race! At the end of the American Civil War, schools for Colored Children in Northern Virginia were scarce and close to nil. Occasionally, Jane was able to attend a local school, but not for any extended period of time. Additionally, she wanted to help her parents meet the financial needs of their family. So in 1866, Jane traveled to Washington D.C. and found domestic work. She would work in D.C. during the week and take the train back home to Virginia on the weekends. During this time, her father died, but she still kept on working and sending part of her wages back to her family in Virginia. While living in Washington DC., Jane would attend the 19th Street Baptist Church, since it was near where she lived. A few months later, she decided to become a member. One day on her way to visit her family in Virginia, Jane noticed a startling trend. Many Colored People were giving up farming for jobs in the city. Two of her biggest concerns with what was happening is that the Colored People would end up getting stuck in "low-wage jobs," and that they would "succumb to alcoholism" as well as to other social ills that came with city living. To help solve what see saw as a potential problem. In 1890, Jane got together with her sister, Ella Dean, and a White lady to establish an Industrial School for educating Colored folk. The school was located in Manassas, Virginia, and the name of the school was The Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth. Although it took about 3 years to raise all of the money and get everything in order, the school received it's charter on October 7, 1893, and officially opened the following fall! The keynote speaker at the school's Opening Dedication Ceremonies just happened to be Frederick Douglas. In addition to her acting as a financial agent for the school, Jane served on the board of directors and the executive committee. After the Industrial School was running smoothly, she decided to address the need for more church Sunday Schools for Colored People. Through her affiliation with the Industrial School and 19th Street Baptist Church, Jane learned about fundraising. Also, she began to introduce herself to several important and influential people, those who had the funds that she needed to help her build more Sunday Schools & Colored Churches. Initially, Jane began raising money to establish more Sunday Schools, which led her to raising money for more churches as well. Jane became so good at fundraising that within a matter of a few years, she had enough money to build several new churches for the Colored People in Northern Virginia. The first church that Jane help provide the funding for was Mt. Calvary Church. Next was Prosperity Chapel in Conklin Loudoun County. After more fundraising, she helped with the funding of Cartharpin Chapel. In 1909, Jane helped see that the money was raised to build Dean-Divers Chapel. Throughout her fundraising efforts, Jane received donations from noted Philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy Industrialist, and other rich American Capitalist. In the Bible, there's a scripture that says a person 's gift maketh room for them, and bringeth them before great men. Well, on February 14, 1906, Jane Dean, along with several students and faculty members of the Manassas Industrial School, visited the White House to meet President Theodore Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington and several other great men and women of her day! Sadly, on May 3, 1913, after suffering a stroke, Jane Dean died, and she was buried beside Mt. Calvary Chapel, the church that she had helped found. Interestingly enough, approximately 25 years after her death, in 1938, the Manassas Industrial School formally became the only school for higher education of Negro Children in five northern Virginia counties. By the way, in 1994, 35 years after the school closed for good, the former site of the Manassas Industrial School was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The former site is now a 70-acre city park, with a memorial to Jane Dean as founder of the former school for Colored Children. Also, the elementary school next to the park, in Arlington, Virginia, was named after Jane Dean.