Avery: The Spirit That Would Not Die, 1865-2015

Exhibit Splash Image

Gallery: Avery in the Early Twentieth Century

Edwin “Teddy” Harleston, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1900, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. A noted painter and graduate of Avery’s class of 1900, Harleston helped organize a branch of the NAACP in Charleston in 1917 after graduating from Atlanta University, where he met Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois. His father, Captain Edwin G. Harleston, opened the Harleston Funeral Home in Charleston in 1917, and they ran this business together until 1931.

Edwin "Teddy" Harleston, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1900, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Septima Poinsette (later Clark) as assistant editor of the Avery yearbook, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1915, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. Septima Poinsette began school in Charleston's Black public school system before entering Avery in the ninth grade with the goal of becoming a teacher. After she graduated in 1916, she taught for over three decades, and went on to become a nationally influential civil rights leader.

Septima Poinsette (later Clark) as assistant editor of the Avery yearbook, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1915, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. 

Last white teachers at Avery, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1914, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. Increasingly strict segregation laws and customs prohibited different races from living together in the same household, which forced Avery to release the last white teachers from its faculty residence in 1915.

Last white teachers at Avery, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1914, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

“Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois & Sight Seeing Party,” Charleston, South Carolina, 1917, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. W. E. B. Du Bois (center), Avery Principal Benjamin Cox (top row, fourth from left). Du Bois, a founding member and leader of the NAACP, visited Charleston in March 1917 to rally community support for the city's newly formed NAACP branch. Teddy Harleston and other founding members of the Charleston branch met with Du Bois during his visit.

“Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois & Sight Seeing Party,” Charleston, South Carolina, 1917, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Faculty at Avery, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1916, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. This photograph includes Principal Cox (seated middle row, far right) and his wife Jeannette Cox (seated first row, left). Other faculty pictured: A. W. Murrell, H. L. Green, E. B. Spencer, S. E. Hamilton, F. A. Clyde, E. P. Morrison, A. E. Hill, H. W. McLennan, and A. L. Demond.

Faculty at Avery, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1916, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. This photograph includes Principal Cox (seated middle row, far right) and his wife Jeannette Cox (seated first row, left). Other faculty pictured: A. W. Murrell, H. L. Green, E. B. Spencer, S. E. Hamilton, F. A. Clyde, E. P. Morrison, A. E. Hill, H. W. McLennan, and A. L. Demond.

Lucille Turner McCottry, Avery Normal Institute graduate, Class of 1907, ca. 1907, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. McCottry is wearing a graduation dress she made with the help of her older sister. Prior to 1919, a citywide ordinance prevented Black teachers from working in Charleston's Black public schools. Avery graduates who pursued teaching before that time, such as McCottry and Septima Poinsette, had two options: apply for a position at private schools like Avery or find work teaching outside of the city.

Lucille Turner McCottry, Avery Normal Institute graduate, Class of 1907, ca. 1907, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. 

Lucille Turner McCottry's South Carolina General Elementary State Certificate for Teachers, 1907, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Lucille Turner McCottry's South Carolina General Elementary State Certificate for Teachers, 1907, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Graduating class of 1910, Charleston, South Carolina, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Graduating class of 1910, Charleston, South Carolina, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Graduating class of 1911, Charleston, South Carolina, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Graduating class of 1911, Charleston, South Carolina, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Graduating class of 1915, Charleston, South Carolina, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Graduating class of 1915, Charleston, South Carolina, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Avery's high school student body, Charleston, South Carolina, 1924, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Avery's high school student body, Charleston, South Carolina, 1924, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. By 1882, Avery’s complete curriculum included three years of primary classes, kindergarten, three years of intermediate classes, three years of grammar school, and two advanced programs equivalent to high school. The three-year normal track program enabled graduates to teach in the lower grades; the four-year classical program prepared students for college as well as teaching. By 1910, Avery dropped the first through fourth grades, and the advanced tracks both became four-year programs.