Harriet E. Giles

Harriet Elizabeth "Hattie" Giles (1828 – November 12, 1909) was an American educator, cofounder in Atlanta, Georgia, of a school for African American women that would eventually become Spelman College.

Life

Harriet E. Giles was born in New Salem, Massachusetts.

Harriet E. Giles and Sophia B. Packard (January 3, 1824 – June 21, 1891) were two teachers from the Oread Institute of Worcester, Massachusetts. Giles and Packard had met around 1855 while Giles was a student and Packard the preceptor of the New Salem Academy in New Salem, Massachusetts, and fostered a lifelong friendship there. They never married and considered each other their "companions".

In 1884, the name of the school was changed to the Spelman Seminary in honor of Laura Spelman, John D. Rockefeller's wife, and her parents, who were longtime activists in the anti-slavery movement.

Death Packard became treasurer of the board of trustees and she continued in that post and as president of the school until her death, at which time Spelman Seminary had 464 students and a faculty of 34. Giles assumed the presidency in 1901, until her death on November 12, 1909. Giles Hall was dedicated in her honor in 1893.