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ZEBRA FEATURE
Judia C. Jackson Harris: A Profile Of Great Success
By Arthur Taylor
Judia C. Jackson Harris, the daughter
of Alfred and Louise Jackson, was born
February 1, 1870 in Athens, Georgia. She
graduated from Atlanta University in
1894 and did postgraduate studies at
Harvard, the University of Chicago, and
the University of Pennsylvania. Accor
ding to Michael Thurmond’s A Story
Untold: Black Men and Women in
Athens History:
Mrs. Harris... “was the recipient
of a Teacher’s Life Certificate
and a lithograph from the gover
nor of Georgia in honor of her
educational service to the state.”
Mrs. Harris also held leadership posi
tions in several local, state and national
organizations.
In 1903, on four acres of her own land
located on the Danielsville Highway,
about five miles northeast of downtown
Athens, Judia C. Jackson Harris, the se
cond wife of Professor Samuel Frederick
Harris, built and established her Model
and Training School, later renamed
Judia C. Jackson Harris School.
The lack of adequate and proper
educational training for African-
American youths of rural Clarke Coun
ty greatly troubled Mrs. Harris. Thus,
her lifework was committed toward a
goal designed to eliminate that
debilitating flaw.
The curriculum of her school included
basic grammar, general math courses,
reading and writing skills, algebra, latin,
black history, music, drama, and arts.
Mrs. Harris had a great love of plays and
pageants, some of which were presented
in the Morton Theatre, the Moss
Auditorium (later converted as the
downtown Belk’s Department Store),
and the Colonial Theatre.
Because she believed in self-
sufficiency, agricultural education and
home economics were a part of the
school’s curriculum. Mrs. Harris
organized tenant farmers into Land
Clubs that bought farms with the money
14
Mrs. Harris (center) with two of her
faculty members: Eli Jackson (unrelated
to Mrs. Harris (left) and Miss Dora Sapp
(right). Photo courtesy of Helen N.
Joseph.
they raised as a whole, and she sponsored
agricultural exhibitions, where cakes,
pickles, quilts, livestocks, and other farm
products were sold to people who attend
ed them. A summer cannery was also in
operation for local farmers and their
families. In 1915, other Land Clubs were
organized, and they pooled their in
vestments and purchased a community
saw mill, a cotton gin, and a threshing
machine.
The General Education Board of New
York City provided funds for the school
of 1903, and Clarke County donated the
furniture.
In 1926, when a fire of unknown
origin destroyed the school, Mrs. Harris
held classes in her home located directly
across the Danielsville Highway (The
Carolina Company is now located on the
site). Immediately, she began to mobilize
her benefactors, both black and white,
to help rebuild the school (see brick
structure below). Julius Rosenwald, a
Springfield, Illinois philanthropist, was
one of the major white donors.
The new school opened in 1929; it con
sisted of four classrooms, a library, an
auditorium, and a principal’s office.
Mrs. Harris expended a significant
amount of her energy toward the im
provement of race feelings in Clarke
County. In a 16 page publication entitl
ed Race Relations, she set forth her own
beliefs and views about African-
Americans and the written expressions of
race feelings that she had solicited from
the white establishment of Clarke Coun
ty -- the leaders of government, clergy,
education, business, and civic
organizations.
Mrs. Harris retired in 1950, but her
school continued to operate until 1956 at
which time it was incorporated into the
Clarke County School District.
On March 16, 1960, Judia C. Jackson
Harris died at the age of 90 years, and
was buried on March 19, in East Lawn
Memorial Cemetery.
The building of the former Judia C.
Jackson Harris School still stands today.
In the 1970’s, it was converted into a
civic club, but it is now vacant and is in
desperate need of repairs. The building
deserves to be recognized as a historical
relic and placed on the local or national
register of historical places.
This, then, was the life and times of
Judia C. Jackson Harris. She was a tru
ly remarkable educator as well as an in
spiring civic leader. Her students went
forth and became success statistics in
their individual fields of endeavor and
they graduated from prep schools, col
leges, and universities in many parts of
the country. Her lifework demonstrates
and dramatizes vividly how self-reliance,
perseverance, intellect, independence,
force of character, self-respect, goodness
of spirit, and other positive character
istics can serve as guidelines to a suc
cessful life. And that was her major
legacy to African-Americans.
Arthur Taylor is a retired Clarke
County School Teacher.
ZEBRA VOL. 2 ISSUE 10