Henrico Black History Month Spotlight – Katie May Brown Atkins
In honor of February as Black History Month, the Henrico Citizen will spotlight (on each weekday during the month) an important current or former Black resident of Henrico whose life has helped shape the county.
Katie May Brown Atkins, born May 30, 1903, in Henrico County, Virginia, lived a life defined by education, family devotion, and community leadership that left a lasting imprint on the Gravel Hill area and Eastern Henrico.
As the daughter of William Henry Brown and Texhanna Martin Brown, she spent her childhood on her parents’ farm in the Gravel Hill community in Varina. She received her earliest schooling in the Varina area’s one-room schoolhouses, institutions that were overseen by pioneering Black educator Virginia Randolph. Determined to continue her studies, she later boarded at the Virginia Randolph Training School on Mountain Road in Glen Allen, where she completed her secondary education. On June 12, 1922, she became one of the first young women from Gravel Hill to graduate from the school.
After finishing school, Brown Atkins devoted herself to teaching, returning to the same kind of rural classrooms that had shaped her own childhood. She taught in several one-room schoolhouses throughout Eastern Henrico, including the Gravel Hill School, Sydney School, and the school at Boar Swamp, helping to educate children during a period when educational resources for Black communities were limited and often overlooked.
In September 1924, she married Spott Atkins, a childhood friend and fellow Gravel Hill resident who farmed and also worked for the railroad. Census records from 1930 show the young couple raising four children, all five years old or younger at the time. Their family would eventually grow to include 10 children.
The Atkins family, descended from enslaved ancestors who were freed by Quakers in the 18th century, became pillars of the Gravel Hill community. Their leadership in farming, education, and religious life earned respect and gratitude from neighbors, particularly within the area’s African American population. Brown Atkins herself was noted not only as a leader and educator but also as a humanitarian and economist who worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for her family and those around her.
As one of the few women in Gravel Hill who had a driver's license, Brown Atkins regularly drove others to school, to buy food and to attend medical appointments.
Brown Atkins died on June 29, 1991 and was laid to rest at Washington Memorial Cemetery in Sandston.
