On Wednesday afternoon, guests are invited to walk through the newly renovated Barrett-Peake Heritage Foundation house, where a step back in time awaits, with a few modern touches added.
Soon, the upper floors of the 100-year-old home will be filled with the sounds of children clacking away on computers in the educational hub; other rooms will be used for office space and by the community for meetings. The first floor serves as a museum, featuring restored furniture from the former Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, which had its last headquarters here.
The July 9 open house honors the late, state Del. Mary T. Christian on what would have been her 101st birthday. Christian, who passed away in 2019, was one of the last members of the federation before it came to an end. The service organization was founded in 1907 by Janie Porter Barrett.
Barrett is one of the reasons why Christian founded the BPHF in 2013 to restore historic African American sites in Hampton Roads. Years ago, Christian was driving with her daughter along East Pembroke Avenue when she saw the then-empty corner house, stopped and surveyed it. She included another historic African American woman, Mary S. Peake, in naming the foundation.
Christian, affectionately known as "Dr. C," admired the work of the women and spent decades as an educator and community activist. The foundation is writing grants for educational and tutoring classes for children and senior citizens, said its president, Colita Fairfax.
“The idea is to be able to begin having some educational classes that Dr. Christian envisioned.”
Christian was also a mentor to Fairfax, professor and Inaugural Faculty Fellow with the Center on African American Public Policy at Norfolk State University.
The home has held a few soft openings, including a Black History Month open house for donors of the foundation’s various projects. It plans to open on a more regular basis as work on the house is completed.
It will usher in another era of service based on Peake, Barrett and Christian.
Christian was the first African American woman to serve on the Hampton School Board and, in 1986, became the first African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the General Assembly. She has several buildings and areas named in her honor, including an elementary school and a walking trail.
“She and her family never moved out of historic old North Hampton,” Fairfax said. It speaks volumes about who she was and how beloved she was by the people in the community.”
Barrett and Peake were also advocates for education and children. Peake was born in Norfolk in 1823 and eventually married and settled in Hampton. There, she broke state law by teaching free and enslaved Blacks to read. During the Civil War, she held classes under the sheltering limbs of a large oak, which is now known as the Emancipation Oak at Hampton University. She eventually established the first school for Black students in Hampton before she died in 1862.
Barrett, who was born in Georgia after the war, later moved to Hampton for college. She eventually established the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls outside of Richmond to teach job skills to girls who were delinquent.
The Barrett-Peake home now features an elevator and a restored wraparound porch that can be used for theater classes. It will have descriptive placards, voiceovers and educational touchscreens. Fundraising is continuing to furnish the house with furniture and computers.
The foundation is hosting a "Brick Memorial Fundraiser," in which donors can purchase bricks and have them engraved with the names of their loved ones. The bricks will create a walkway to the house.
“The foundation is also raising money and seeking other properties to preserve, to fill a gap that the city cannot afford to fill, Fairfax said. “Dr. Christian was forward-thinking in creating the foundation as an organization to do just that.”
The open house is from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at 123 E. Pembroke Ave., Hampton. Visit Barrett-Peake Heritage Foundation website for more information.
