Katherine Rebecca Pettit (February 23, 1868 – September 3, 1936) was an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

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 v ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

who contributed to the

settlement school Settlement schools are social reform institutions established in rural Appalachia in the early 20th century with the purpose of educating mountain children and improving their isolated rural communities. Settlement schools have played an importan ...

movement of the early 20th century.

Background

Born to Clara Barbee and Benjamin F. Pettit on a prosperous farm in

Fayette County, Kentucky Fayette County is located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 322,570, making it the second-most populous county in the commonwealth. Its territory, population and government are coextens ...

, Pettit attended two years at

Sayre School Sayre School is an independent, private, co-educational school in Lexington, Kentucky, US. The school enrolls 610 students from age two through twelfth grade. It has 68 full-time faculty members. History David A. Sayre, a New Jersey silversmith ...

in Lexington. A member of the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

, Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs, and the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

, she became a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

educator.

Settlement schools

Under the auspices of by the Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs beginning in 1899, Katherine Pettit and May Stone spent three summers in social settlement work in Kentucky at Camp Cedar Grove, Camp Industrial (which later became the

Hindman Settlement School Hindman Settlement School is a settlement school located in Hindman, Kentucky in Knott County, Kentucky, Knott County. Established in 1902, it was the first rural settlement school in America.

), and Sassafras Social Settlement. Their journals, filled with words to local ballads and idiomatic expressions of their students and families from homes nearby, describe in detail their classes in health and homemaking, as well as teacher training. A local elder Solomon Everage watched the two women—"quare fotched-on women from the level land,"—for some time and eventually asked them to establish a permanent industrial school in the Troublesome Creek area.

Hindman Settlement School

In 1902 with financing from Frances Beauchamp, president of the Kentucky

, Katherine Pettit and May Stone co-founded

Knott County, Kentucky Knott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,251. Its county seat is Hindman. The county was formed in 1884 and is named for James Proctor Knott, Governor of Kentucky (1883–188 ...

. Pettit said that the goal of Hindman was "to know all we can and teach all we can." The Kentucky WCTU sponsored the school until 1915, when it was formally incorporated as a private, non-profit, non-sectarian, and non-denominational corporation. May Stone remained at Hindman as principal until 1936. Many of the graduates remained in the area.

Carl D. Perkins Carl Dewey Perkins (October 15, 1912 – August 3, 1984), a Democrat, was an American politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Kentucky serving from 1949 until his death from a heart attack in Lexing ...

, a native of Hindman who served thirty-six years in the United States House of Representatives, was a graduate of the settlement school.

Pine Mountain Settlement School

In 1913, Pettit co-founded

Pine Mountain Settlement School The Pine Mountain Settlement School is a historic cultural and educational institution in rural Harlan County, Kentucky. Founded in 1913 as a settlement school near Bledsoe, it now focuses on classes related to the culture of Appalachia and en ...

with Ethel deLong Zande in

Harlan County, Kentucky Harlan County is a county located in southeastern Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,831. Its county seat is Harlan. It is classified as a moist countya county in which alcohol sales are prohibited (a dry county), but conta ...

. At Pine Mountain, Pettit directed outdoor work and agricultural education while Zande directed classical academics. Founding Pine Mountain as an example of the

settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

, Pettit and deLong modeled the school after

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

. According to

Berea College Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. Berea College charges no tuition; every adm ...

's Southern Appalachian Archives,

ettit and deLonghoped that their modern ideas about health, nutrition, work efficiency, farm management, and the cultural value of indigenous crafts would permeate the surrounding communities -- both through the children, and through direct contact with adults.

Pine Mountain Settlement School is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

Support for Woman Suffrage Movement

The publications officer for the

Kentucky Equal Rights Association Kentucky Equal Rights Association (KERA) was the first permanent statewide women's rights organization in Kentucky. Founded in November 1888, the KERA voted in 1920 to transmute itself into thKentucky League of Women Votersto continue its many and ...

, Lida Calvert Obenchain reported to the state convention in 1908 that she sent suffrage literature to the settlement school in Hindman because she considered it a good "field for suffrage work." Obenchain reported: :Miss Katherine Pettit, one of the teachers, is in sympathy with our cause and assures me that she can make use of all the Woman's Journals, copies of Progress and leaflets that I send her, so that these mountain girls and boys can hear the gospel of equal rights while they are growing up and will need no conversion in later life. I have also sent to this school the peace literature sent me by the Superintendent of this branch of work. In 1914, despite the antipathy for women's involvement in eastern Kentucky politics, Pettit was elected as a public school trustee in

. Pettit's activism in electoral politics and her support for women's right to vote clearly had an impact on her students. Even after she had left Hindman to work at Pine Mountain, the students in Hindman continued to focus on this volatile issue
Evelyn K. Wells
school secretary at Pine Mountain, visited Hindman Settlement School in 1918 and wrote about hearing the students working on their ideas about suffrage: "In the evening various clubs held forth. I visited debating and heard a most vigorous debate on woman suffrage..."

Appalachian culture

Katherine Pettit labored to preserve and encourage the teaching of

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

n culture through arts,

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

, and

customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

. One of her hobbies was collecting quilts (several of which are now displayed in the Bodley-Bullock House in the

Gratz Park Historic District Gratz Park is a neighborhood and historic district located just north of downtown Lexington, Kentucky. It was named after early Lexington businessman Benjamin Gratz whose home stands on the corner of Mill and New streets at the edge of Gratz Par ...

), as well as the folk tales and ballads of the region. Her diaries provide much detail about Appalachian culture at the beginning of the 20th century. Her teachings on natural vegetable dyeing were recorded i
The Katherine Pettit Book of Vegetable Dyes
Wilmer Stone Viner, who had worked at Pine Mountain Settlement School, published this in 1946 after moving from Kentucky to Saluda,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. Consequently, Pettit's recipes have influenced craft practices in western North Carolina. The book, dedicated to the memory of Katherine Pettit, quotes a memorial tablet in the Pine Mountain Settlement School Chapel:

Katherine Pettit, 1869 - 1936,
pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...
and trail-breaker. Forty years she spent creating opportunity for mountain children here and elsewhere. In life, she ever refused praise. In death, she is too great for it.

Death

Whenever she visited her sister Minnie Pettit Bullock in Lexington, she lived in the garden apartment behind the house in the

. She died of cancer there in 1936, and is buried in the Lexington Cemetery.