Sarah J. Tompkins Garnet (née Smith; July 31, 1831 – September 17, 1911) was an American educator and

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

who was a pioneer and influential

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

female

school principal A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role ...

in the New York City public school system.

Family and early life

Sarah J. Smith, daughter of Sylvanus and Anne (Springsteel) Smith, was born on July 31, 1831, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She was the oldest of 11 children; her parents were farmers and owned land in Queens County, then part of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. Her sister

Susan McKinney Steward Susan Maria McKinney Steward (March 1847 – March 17, 1918) was an American physician and author. She was the third African-American woman to earn a medical degree, and the first in New York (state), New York state.Seraile, W. (1985). SUSAN ...

was the first African-American woman in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

to earn a medical degree, and the third in the United States. She married Samuel Tompkins, who died in approximately 1852. A daughter from that marriage, Serena Jane Tompkins, was an accomplished pianist and organist when she died at forty-seven years old in 1898.

Pioneer educator

When Tompkins began teaching in New York City, the public schools were

racially segregated Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people ...

. She began teaching at the

African Free School The African Free School was a school for children of slaves and free people of color in New York City. It was founded by members of the New York Manumission Society, including Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, on November 2, 1787. Many of its alum ...

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

in 1854, when Brooklyn was a sizeable city still decades from being consolidated in 1898 with New York City (then confined to Manhattan and the Bronx). In February 1863 the untimely death of Charlotte S. Smith, the beloved African American principal of Manhattan's Colored School No. 7 on West 17th Street, created a vacancy. Tompkins was appointed that spring as principal of the school, which around 1866 the Board of Education renamed Colored School No. 4. She taught many prominent students, including musician Walter F. Craig. Garnet retired from active school service in 1900 having served as teacher and principal for 37 years.

Suffrage

Garnet was the founder of the Brooklyn suffrage organization the Equal Suffrage League in the late 1880s. She was also the superintendent of suffrage for the

National Association of Colored Women The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of ...

Later life and death

On December 28, 1875, Sarah Tompkins (appearing in some records as Thompkins) wed noted abolitionist

Henry Highland Garnet Henry Highland Garnet (December 23, 1815 – February 13, 1882) was an American abolitionist, minister, educator, orator, and diplomat. Having escaped as a child from slavery in Maryland with his family, he grew up in New York City. He was ed ...

, and thereafter was usually identified as Sarah Garnet. Their Brooklyn marriage ceremony was performed by Amos Noë Freeman, a minister associated with the legendary escape from slavery in 1855 of

Anna Maria Weems Anna Maria Weems, also Ann Maria Weems (ca. 1840 – after 1863), whose aliases included "Ellen Capron" and "Joe Wright," was an American woman known for escaping slavery by disguising herself as a male carriage driver and escaping to British Nort ...

on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. In 1881 President

James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until his death in September that year after being shot two months earlier. A preacher, lawyer, and Civi ...

appointed Henry Garnet as ambassador in

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

, although Sarah Garnet did not accompany him on the trip. Henry Garnet became ill soon after arriving abroad, and he died on February 13, 1882, in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

. Sarah Garnet owned a seamstress shop in Brooklyn from 1883 to 1911. In 1911 Garnet traveled with her sister

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, for the inaugural Universal Races Congress, where Steward presented the paper "Colored American Women". The conference was also attended by

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

. Soon after they returned from Europe, Garnet died at home on September 17, 1911. She is buried in

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...

in Brooklyn.

Legacy

Two public schools in New York City are named for Garnet: PS 9 Brooklyn was renamed Sarah Smith Garnet Public School 9 in 2019 and PS 11 in Manhattan was renamed the Sarah J. Garnet School in 2022. PS 9 Brooklyn was formerly named for Teunis G. Bergen; following a movement to remove the slaveholding Bergen Family name from a school whose students are 40% African-American, on March 28, 2022, the school unveiled a sign with the new name. PS 11, formerly named for William T. Harris, is located in Chelsea, just a few blocks away from the former Colored School No. 4, where Garnet was principal. Middleton Playground in Brooklyn was renamed in 2021 to Sarah J.S. Tompkins Garnet Playground as a part of an NYC Parks initiative to rename parks in honor of prominent Black Americans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garnet, Susan J. Activists for African-American civil rights African-American suffragists Suffragists from New York City Activists from Brooklyn 1831 births 1911 deaths African-American women educators Educators from New York City American women educators American women civil rights activists 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 19th-century African-American women 19th-century African-American educators 19th-century American educators