Our Clarke
Named as an assistant at the Berryville school by the People's Journal in October 1924 and as a teacher at the Josephine colored school by the Clarke Courier in July 1925. Spelled Fanny by the first and Fannie by the second.
Named as a teacher at the Berryville school by the People's Journal in October 1924 and as a teacher at the Josephine colored school by the Clarke Courier in July 1925. The two references are to the same person at the same school, under the two names the two papers used for it.
The People's Journal's October 1924 school roster and the Clarke Courier's July 1925 teacher assignment list name the same three teachers, in the same roles, at a school the first calls Berryville and the second calls the Josephine colored school1. That the two rosters name the same people in the same roles is what makes the identification confident: Fannie Jenkins on both lists.
The school the People's Journal called the Berryville school in 1924 and the school the Clarke Courier called the Josephine colored school in 1925 are one school under two names — the Black paper naming it for the town, the white paper for the Black neighbourhood1. Jenkins's own life is what the two rosters leave outside the record: her age, her birthplace, her training, and where she taught before and after these two dates.
Two claims establish that Jenkins was one person at one school between the two papers, and — importantly — that the different names the two papers used are the same school. Missing from the corpus so far: Jenkins's own life dates and background. She is a locatable subject in the WWI-era Clarke County census and school-board records, both open to the laptop research queue.
The People's Journal's October 1924 school roster and the Clarke Courier's July 1925 teacher assignment list name the same three teachers, in the same roles, at a school the first calls Berryville and the second calls the Josephine colored school.
That two independent papers printed the same three staff names nine months apart under two different names for the school: Rev. E. T. Johnson as principal with Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins in the People's Journal, and E. T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins and Florine Johnson in the Courier.
Reading the People's Journal's 'Mrs. F. Johnson' as the Courier's 'Florine Johnson' is an expansion of an initial and is probable rather than certain. The Courier's list does not repeat the People's Journal's designation of Johnson as principal.
Evidence role: supports. The People's Journal roster: Berryville, Rev. E. T. Johnson principal, Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins.
G. L. D. Harris, editor · 1924-10-01 (publication)
Locator: School roster, printed page not recorded
Relevant passageBerryville: Rev. E. T. Johnson, pastor of the Free Baptist Church, principal; Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins, assistants. Louisville: Miss Pattie Smith. White Post: Miss Mitchell.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The Courier list: Josephine colored school, E T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins, Florine Johnson.
Clarke Courier · 1925-07-09 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 1, teacher assignment list, colored schools
Relevant passageStone Bridge colored -- Ella F. Carter. Boyce Colored -- Alma Layton and Matilda Herbert. Millwood Colored -- J. P Rier, Prin., Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton. White Post Colored -- Estelle Mitchell and Margaretta Richarson. Josephine colored school -- E T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins, Florine Johnson. Louisville colored -- Emma E. Alexander. Bristol colored -- George W. Carter.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
The school the People's Journal called the Berryville school in 1924 and the school the Clarke Courier called the Josephine colored school in 1925 are one school under two names, the Black paper naming it for the town and the white paper for the Black neighbourhood.
That a place-name search across these two papers cannot be relied on to find the same institution, because the two papers named it differently. This is why the absence of the token 'Josephine City' from a body of Courier text is not evidence about coverage of Josephine City.
An identification from a shared staff of three across nine months, not a statement either paper makes. Two schools could in principle share staff. This claim says nothing about the school BUILDING: the entity josephine-school in this corpus denotes the structure the Department of Historic Resources dates to 1882, and nothing in the cited records establishes that the 1924 and 1925 school was in that building, so that entity is deliberately not linked here.
Evidence role: supports. The People's Journal naming the school for the town.
G. L. D. Harris, editor · 1924-10-01 (publication)
Locator: School roster, printed page not recorded
Relevant passageBerryville: Rev. E. T. Johnson, pastor of the Free Baptist Church, principal; Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins, assistants. Louisville: Miss Pattie Smith. White Post: Miss Mitchell.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The Courier naming the same staff under the neighbourhood name.
Clarke Courier · 1925-07-09 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 1, teacher assignment list, colored schools
Relevant passageStone Bridge colored -- Ella F. Carter. Boyce Colored -- Alma Layton and Matilda Herbert. Millwood Colored -- J. P Rier, Prin., Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton. White Post Colored -- Estelle Mitchell and Margaretta Richarson. Josephine colored school -- E T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins, Florine Johnson. Louisville colored -- Emma E. Alexander. Bristol colored -- George W. Carter.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
The People's Journal's October 1924 school roster and the Clarke Courier's July 1925 teacher assignment list name the same three teachers, in the same roles, at a school the first calls Berryville and the second calls the Josephine colored school.
The People's Journal's October 1924 school roster and the Clarke Courier's July 1925 teacher assignment list name the same three teachers, in the same roles, at a school the first calls Berryville and the second calls the Josephine colored school.
That two independent papers printed the same three staff names nine months apart under two different names for the school: Rev. E. T. Johnson as principal with Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins in the People's Journal, and E. T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins and Florine Johnson in the Courier.
Reading the People's Journal's 'Mrs. F. Johnson' as the Courier's 'Florine Johnson' is an expansion of an initial and is probable rather than certain. The Courier's list does not repeat the People's Journal's designation of Johnson as principal.
Evidence role: supports. The People's Journal roster: Berryville, Rev. E. T. Johnson principal, Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins.
G. L. D. Harris, editor · 1924-10-01 (publication)
Locator: School roster, printed page not recorded
Relevant passageBerryville: Rev. E. T. Johnson, pastor of the Free Baptist Church, principal; Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins, assistants. Louisville: Miss Pattie Smith. White Post: Miss Mitchell.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The Courier list: Josephine colored school, E T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins, Florine Johnson.
Clarke Courier · 1925-07-09 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 1, teacher assignment list, colored schools
Relevant passageStone Bridge colored -- Ella F. Carter. Boyce Colored -- Alma Layton and Matilda Herbert. Millwood Colored -- J. P Rier, Prin., Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton. White Post Colored -- Estelle Mitchell and Margaretta Richarson. Josephine colored school -- E T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins, Florine Johnson. Louisville colored -- Emma E. Alexander. Bristol colored -- George W. Carter.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
The school the People's Journal called the Berryville school in 1924 and the school the Clarke Courier called the Josephine colored school in 1925 are one school under two names, the Black paper naming it for the town and the white paper for the Black neighbourhood.
The school the People's Journal called the Berryville school in 1924 and the school the Clarke Courier called the Josephine colored school in 1925 are one school under two names, the Black paper naming it for the town and the white paper for the Black neighbourhood.
That a place-name search across these two papers cannot be relied on to find the same institution, because the two papers named it differently. This is why the absence of the token 'Josephine City' from a body of Courier text is not evidence about coverage of Josephine City.
An identification from a shared staff of three across nine months, not a statement either paper makes. Two schools could in principle share staff. This claim says nothing about the school BUILDING: the entity josephine-school in this corpus denotes the structure the Department of Historic Resources dates to 1882, and nothing in the cited records establishes that the 1924 and 1925 school was in that building, so that entity is deliberately not linked here.
Evidence role: supports. The People's Journal naming the school for the town.
G. L. D. Harris, editor · 1924-10-01 (publication)
Locator: School roster, printed page not recorded
Relevant passageBerryville: Rev. E. T. Johnson, pastor of the Free Baptist Church, principal; Mrs. F. Johnson and Miss Fanny Jenkins, assistants. Louisville: Miss Pattie Smith. White Post: Miss Mitchell.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The Courier naming the same staff under the neighbourhood name.
Clarke Courier · 1925-07-09 (publication)
Locator: Printed page 1, teacher assignment list, colored schools
Relevant passageStone Bridge colored -- Ella F. Carter. Boyce Colored -- Alma Layton and Matilda Herbert. Millwood Colored -- J. P Rier, Prin., Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton. White Post Colored -- Estelle Mitchell and Margaretta Richarson. Josephine colored school -- E T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins, Florine Johnson. Louisville colored -- Emma E. Alexander. Bristol colored -- George W. Carter.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
See a related record at the Clarke County Historical Association
Also indexed as: Miss Fanny Jenkins; Fanny Jenkins. Life dates that aren't known aren't guessed at here.
Know who this was, or something the records here miss? Help fill a gap. It stays private until it is reviewed.
The Clarke Courier called it the County League of Negro schools. The People's Journal called it the Clarke County School League. It had $28 when it started and $1,265.95 eleven months later.
What the evidence says Two independent newspapers. Four identifications, each marked as ours.