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

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Gallery: Avery in the Nineteenth Century

Diploma for Monimia Richardson Scott from the Avery Normal Institute, 1886, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Diploma for Monimia Richardson Scott from the Avery Normal Institute, 1886, courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.

Earthquake damage, Charleston, South Carolina, 1886, courtesy of the Waring Historical Library, Medical University of South Carolina. A massive earthquake in 1886 caused extensive damage to the city's buildings, and reportedly resulted in eighty-three deaths. Avery closed temporarily due to earthquake damage to the school building.

Earthquake damage, Charleston, South Carolina, 1886, courtesy of The Waring Historical Library, Medical University of South Carolina.

Avery graduate with her diploma, ca. 1886, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Avery graduate with her diploma, ca. 1886, courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.

Plymouth Congregational Church and Parsonage, ca. 1895, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. In 1867, over one hundred African Americans, mostly former members of the Circular Church, founded the Plymouth Church, the oldest Black Congregational Church in South Carolina. Avery Principal Francis Cardozo served as one of the early pastors, and many Averyites and their families became members of the congregation.

Plymouth Congregational Church and Parsonage, ca. 1895, courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.

Avery Alumni Association Program, 1892, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. The Avery Alumni Association formed in 1877 through the support of graduates that included doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and teachers. Avery alumni and their descendants continue to serve as strong supporters of the Avery Research Center today.

Avery Alumni Association Program, 1892, courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. 

Reverend John L. Dart lays the cornerstone of the Charleston Industrial Institute (Dart standing in forefront on right), ca. 1890s, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Reverend John L. Dart lays the cornerstone of the Charleston Industrial Institute (Dart standing in forefront on right), ca. 1890s, courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Born free before the Civil War, John L. Dart was the valedictorian of Avery’s first graduating class in 1872. After attending Atlanta University and the Newton Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, he returned to Charleston in 1886 to become the pastor of the Morris Street Baptist Church. In 1894, Reverend Dart founded the Charleston Industrial Institute, the first vocational public school for Black students in the city. This Institute was eventually renamed the Charleston Colored Industrial School, and later Burke High School. Dart also served as the editor of the Southern Reporter newspaper. 

Charleston Colored Industrial School building, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1901, from the Prospectus of the Charleston Industrial School, courtesy of the Avery Research Center.

Charleston Colored Industrial School building, Charleston, South Carolina, ca. 1901, from the Prospectus of the Charleston Industrial School, courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Avery alumnus Reverend John L. Dart founded the Charleston Industrial Institute in 1894 as a free public school for Black Charlestonians that focused on vocational and moral education. Dart’s original prospectus for the school read: "In view of the startling fact that there are more than 5,000 colored children in Charleston without free public school advantages, and knowing that the many boys and girls who are now growing up in ignorance, idleness and crime must become, in future, a large criminal and dependent class, a number of the leading and progressive colored men of this city undertook the work of establishing a school for colored children, where they could be taught not only reading and writing, but the lessons of morals, temperance, sewing, cooking, nursing, housework, carpentering, etc."