N.C. A&T Alumni Times

On the corner of Nocho Street and Alma Morrow Circle, right beside Murphy Hall on the campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is a small, brown, Georgian-style, two-story cottage. This house was dedicated in 1938 as the Florence Garrett Practice House. The Garrett House was the center of home economic studies for many decades. In recent years, it was used by University Relations and The A&T Register newspaper.

This house was named after Florence A. Garrett, a well-known school teacher in Greensboro, N.C. during the turn of the 20th century and one of the very first female graduates of North Carolina A&T. With new research, the F. D. Bluford Library Archives can re-tell her fascinating story, as well as her impact on women in Greensboro and at N.C. A&T in time for Women’s History Month.

Garrett was born between 1855 and 1864, she was the daughter of Benjamin and Sabra Brown of Wake County, N.C. In 1878, she married George W. Garrett who was a longtime custodian for the Guilford County Courthouse in Greensboro. They were married until his death in 1912. She began working for Guilford County Schools around 1880, serving most of her career at the Percy Street Colored Graded School. She was also the co-founder of the African-American Greensboro Chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the first chapter for black women in the nation. In 1886, she made a famed speech at a statewide WCTU meeting and she is believed to be the first woman of color in North Carolina to address a white female audience.

Florence continued her education at Bennett College graduating in 1894. It is unknown exactly when she started attending the A&M College for the Colored Race. While studying at A&M, she continued to teach at the Percy Street School where Henry H. Falkener, one of A&T’s charter members and a professor of English, was also the principal. Mrs. Garrett graduated in the class of 1902 along with Mrs. Hannah A. Bullock, a practicing nurse in Greensboro. Following Frances Grimes from the class of 1901, they were the last female bachelor graduates until the college reinstated women in 1928. During that time, female school teachers could attend the A&M College Summer School sessions for professional development and Garrett was one of those teachers.

Garrett was known as a well-respected woman in Guilford County. Along with her work in the WCTU, she gave speeches on education at local churches, and at one of Bennett College’s commencements. In her circles, she was also known to have been friends with Professor P. E. Robinson ‘1899, Dr. J. E. Dellinger, our first college physician, and Professor Charles H. Moore (Moore Gym).

After more than 30 years of teaching, Garrett died at her home on East Market Street in 1916. In her will, she bequeathed funds to A&T College and an endowment was announced in 1922.

On November 6, 1938, the Garrett House on A&T Campus was dedicated as one of the first two campus buildings named after a woman, the other being the Annie W. Holland dormitory. As an ongoing legacy to women in Aggieland, many of A&T’s notable female faculty, staff and alumni have worked, taught and lived in the Garrett House including Carolyn Crawford, Mattye Reed, Nettie Rowland, and Mable Scott.

To learn more about this story and other topics related to A&T History please contact the F. D. Bluford Library Archives at libraryarchives@ncat.edu.