Sensei Aishitemasu | Hidden Figures: Sarah J. Garnet #BlackHERstoryMonth 27/28 @SenseiAishitemasu | Uploaded February 2021 | Updated October 2024, 11 minutes ago.
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Sarah J. Smith Thomas Garnet, or Sarah Garnet, July 31, 1831 - September 17, 1911, was the first Black American woman to found a suffrage organization, and the first Black woman principal in the New York City Public School System. Her sister, Susan McKinney Steward, was the first Black American woman in New York State to earn a medical degree.

Garnet was born Sarah Jane Smith in Brooklyn in 1831. Her parents, Sylvanus and Annie Springstead, were prosperous farmers and land owners that put an emphasis on education for their 11 children. Her father was one of the founders of Weeksville, one of the first all-Black communities in the 19th century. Sarah Smith was a successful student and classroom monitor, and In 1845 at the age of fourteen she began working as a teacher’s assistant. Nine years later she became a teacher at the African Free School of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. She was the first Black American woman to be appointed as a principal in the New York City public school system when she took over as principal of Grammar School Number 4 on April 30, 1863.

She retired in 1900 after serving as teacher and principal for 37 years. Throughout her career in the education system, Garnet fought to abolish race discrimination for all colored teachers. An active supporter of Black teacher retention and the rights of Black teachers in the public school system, throughout her career she threw her weight behind the promotions of Black teachers. She owned a seamstress shop in Brooklyn from 1883 to 1911, and in the late 1880s, Garnet helped found the Equal Suffrage Club, a Brooklyn-based equal rights club for Black women, and the first of its kind.

As a member of the Equal Suffrage Club, Garnet supported the Niagara Movement, a predecessor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.). Garnet also worked to support Ida B. Wells's anti-lynching campaign and to end discrimination against Black teachers. She was an early member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), and became superintendent of its Suffrage Department. Garnet died peacefully at home on September 17, 1911, at the age of 88.

In 2019, a Brooklyn elementary school was renamed Sarah Smith Garnet Public School in her honor.

#HiddenFigures #SarahGarnet

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Links:

Myrtle Black History Spotlight: Sarah Garnet:
myrtleavenue.org/sarahgarnet

Sarah J. Tompkins Garnet:
historicalbrooklyn.wordpress.com/sarah-j-tompkins-garnet

A Teacher Grows In Brooklyn: Sarah J. Smith Tompkins Garnet: bklynlibrary.org/blog/2020/07/01/teacher-grows-brooklyn

Sarah J. Garnet:
nps.gov/people/sarah-j-garnet.htm

SARAH J. SMITH TOMPKINS GARNET (1831-1911):
blackpast.org/african-american-history/garnet-sarah-j-smith-tompkins-1831-1911

Sarah J. Garnet (Wikipedia):
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_J._Garnet