Girls' Industrial School African American girls orchestra   Save
Ohio Youth Commission: Girls Industrial School
Description: Taken ca. 1910-1919, this photograph shows an African American girls orchestra on the steps of the Girls' Industrial School, Ohio's correctional facility for minor women from 1869-2014, located ten miles south of Delaware, Ohio. The purpose of the school was "the reformation of exposed, helpless, evil disposed, and vicious girls." In 1878, the term "incorrigible" was added. A five-member board of trustees purchased a piece of property known as the Ohio White Sulphur Springs Resort, eighteen miles north of Columbus. The first six girls were admitted to the school in October 1869. The inmates spent their mornings performing domestic chores. They also learned various vocational trades, including basket-making, music, sewing, and stenography. In the afternoons, the girls attended school, where they studied, reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography, literature, and United States history among other topics. The girls remained at the school until they reached seventeen years of age or completed their sentence. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00207
Subjects: Delaware (Ohio); Women--Education - Ohio; Multicultural Ohio--African American Ohioans; Musical instruments; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections
Places: Delaware (Ohio); Delaware County (Ohio)