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When educational opportunities for African Americans in Memphis, Tennessee, were limited, Emma J. Griggs built a school. The college she founded trained Black students in everything from accounting, stenography and typing to religious education, flower making and food preparation — and outlived her by more than a quarter century.
Emma Griggs
Born Emma Williams in Portsmouth, Virginia, in the 1870s, she attended schools for African Americans and Black women in Virginia, developed a lifelong love of learning, and began teaching at 17. In 1897 she married Sutton E. Griggs, a Baptist minister, prolific author and social activist who argued for racial justice and equality. He took part in the Niagara Movement, which later led to the founding of the NAACP, though some of his ideas for toppling Jim Crow placed him outside the mainstream of Black leadership.
Building the school
| Year | |
|---|---|
| 1900 | The couple move to Nashville, where Sutton pastors a church and publishes; Emma works in church and community groups, continues her education, and teaches in a private school she founds |
| 1913 | Emma, Sutton and their daughter Eunice move to Memphis |
| Three years later | Emma founds the college; several African American women graduate at its first commencement |
| 1933 | The family moves to Houston, where Sutton dies soon after |
| After his death | Emma and Eunice return to Memphis, where Emma keeps the school going, running it from her home for about 10 years before buying a building |
| 1944 | She charters it as "Griggs Business and Practical Arts College" |
| Four years later | Emma dies; the school carries on |
| 1949 | The school moves to its present location |
| 1974 | The school closes |
| 2023 | It joins the African American Civil Rights Network |
The African American Civil Rights Network
Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017 and coordinated by the National Park Service, the network recognizes the African American civil rights movement and the sacrifices of those who fought discrimination and segregation, telling the movement's stories through public and private properties, facilities and programs.
Sources
Based on "Griggs Business and Practical Arts College (Memphis, Tennessee)," National Park Service, African American Civil Rights Network; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licens: CC0 1.0 (allmän egendom) · Bearbetat efter www.nps.gov
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