Member of the Homemakers Club

Bernice Wight, a member of the Homemakers Club in Caroline County, displays tomatoes she grew in her garden. In an attempt to improve rural schools for African Americans early in the twentieth century, an emphasis was placed on industrial education, and students were taught practical skills such as gardening, woodworking, and sewing. Jackson Davis, the Virginia field agent for the General Education Board from 1915 to 1929, took this photograph, one of about 6,000 he made documenting the conditions of rural schools and the industrial education of African Americans.

Citation: Jackson Davis Papers, 1906–1947, Accession #3072, #3072-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.