Carrie Steele Logan

How this work helped shape America

Born enslaved in Georgia in 1829, Carrie Steele Logan worked for railroads in Macon and Atlanta after emancipation and became concerned about homeless Black children she encountered near Atlanta's Union Station. She first sheltered children in a boxcar and then in her own home before selling property, raising donations and securing a charter in 1888 for the Carrie Steele Orphan Home. A three-story building completed in 1892 housed and educated as many as fifty children while providing religious instruction and practical preparation for employment. Logan directed the institution until her death, creating a durable system of care and training for Black children excluded from adequate public support.