Despite being born into slavery in 1852 and without the benefit of a formal education, Jennie Dean’s vision changed the lives of countless African Americans in Manassas, Virginia and the surrounding region. When the Civil War ended, leaving the county desolate and deprived, Jennie Dean sought work as a domestic in Washington, D.C., hoping to build a new life for herself, but never forgetting the African-American community she left behind. She travelled home by train on weekends to train “her people” in life skills, to establish churches, and finally, to establish the Manassas Industrial School in 1893 with funds donated from philanthropists across the east coast. High school-aged students studied academic and vocational subjects and earned tuition, room and board by selling farm products. More than 5,000 area youth who graduated from the MIS went on to become professionals, tradesmen, and leaders in their communities at a time when segregation kept them from attending public schools.