Spelman College of Atlanta, Georgia is the oldest historically Black college for women in the United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary by two New Salem residents, Sophia Packard and Harriet Giles.
Both Packard and Giles were born in New Salem, with Packard attending the Baptist Church in North Prescott with her family as a child. Both graduated New Salem Academy, then began teaching at the academy and in surrounding towns.
In February 1880, Packard traveled to the South on behalf of the Women’s American Baptist Mission Society (WABMS) of New England to see firsthand the conditions of free people of color post-Emancipation. Disturbed by the lack of educational opportunities, particularly for Black girls, she reached out to Harriet Giles, teaching in Boston at that time, about establishing a school in the south, according to Holly Smith, Spelman College archivist.
The pair solicited early financial support from First Baptist Church in Medford, Mass., which was heavily abolitionist from its beginning, according to the Rev. Matthew Rasure, current pastor of the church, explaining that when the church incorporated in the summer of 1841, they stated in their incorporation documents that the abolition of slavery was an essential part of the church
Packard and Giles wanted to be sponsored by the Baptist Home Mission Society. “I understand they were told no, as it was felt that it would be too dangerous to send two women south. They raised funding on their own and found a sympathetic ear in the Rev. James P. Abbott, who was pastor of the church at the time,” he continued. A 1906 letter written by Rev. Abbott recalled that meeting of August 1880. In the letter, he stated that he had invited Giles and Packard to speak about their desire to create the school, but also raised concerns that many of his parishioners who would be interested in attending would be on vacation. Those who attended, he stated, were younger people whose bank accounts were mainly in faith. “It was not a church that was flush with cash at the time,” said Rasure, explaining that between 1872 and 1874 the congregation had built a new church and were facing the debt incurred from that.
Despite this, $100 in pledges were collected that night, with Abbott collecting the funds the next morning for the women’s project. Packard said, “God has answered prayer we are going to the Southland and the dear Medford Church points the way!” The school in the spring of 1881 began receiving support from the WABMS as well.
Atlanta was chosen in part because of their familiarity with teachers chosen by the American Baptist Mission Society supported by the Atlanta Baptist Seminary (now Morehouse College). “Despite the persistence of segregation, racialized violence and discrimination, Packard and Giles were not entering into a vacuum where Black communities were not advocating for education opportunities; Packard and Giles worked with surrounding African American communities to establish the school in the West End of Atlanta,” said Smith. The school was established in 1881.
For a while, Packard and Giles were the only two teachers at the school. Within a year of the school’s opening, there were 200 students, so enrollment was increasing and the school needed additional resources and instructors. Two additional teachers, Sarah Champney and Caroline Glover, arrived in 1882, Smith continued.
Packard and Giles initially worked with the Rev. Frank Quarles, pastor of the African American congregation at First Baptist Church in Atlanta, to raise support for the school. The first classes, consisting of 11 students, said to be 10 women and one girl, were held in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church, she stated. The first catalog notes that classes consisted of reading, writing, geography and arithmetic.
Across the South, White opposition to educational aspirations and any type of progress in Black communities often took the form of violence. This was no doubt the case for Packard, Giles, the students, and stakeholders for the school, according to Smith, who added, “Although I have not read about specific incidents of violence at the school, the fact that in the early days of its founding, Spelman was constantly facing lack of financial resources, challenges with physical spaces, and concerns for the safety and overall well-being of the student body provides glimpses to the challenges they faced in the post-Civil War South,” said Smith.
Packard and Giles served as the first and second presidents of Spelman, respectively, and worked at the college until their deaths. Packard died in 1891, and Giles passed away in 1909. Both women are buried at Silver Lake Cemetery in Athol.
In 1884, the school was renamed Spelman Seminary, in honor of Lucy and Harvey Spelman, abolitionists and grandparents of John D. Rockefeller, an early benefactor of the school. The school became Spelman College in 1924.
Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston, Ma. Her writing focuses on history with a particular interest in the history of the North Quabbin area.