ceded as mentioned above by
noble workers in behalf of the Negroes. Building upon the foundation
which other Negroes had laid, he soon had a school of four instead of
two rooms, and before he ceased to be principal it had increased to
five, with a well-graded system, standardized instruction, and
up-to-date methods. His early assistants in this work were Charles P.
Keys, P. B. Burbridge, Harry Payne, James Bullard, and William T.
McKinney.

Mr. Davis received some cooperation from a few white persons, the
chief one of whom was Mr. Edward Moore of Pennsylvania, the father of
Spencer Moore, now a bookseller in the city of Charleston. Mr. Edward
Moore taught a select school for Negroes and helped the cause
considerably. Mr. Davis served about twenty-four years as principal,
although he was a member of the teaching staff for a much longer
period, serving altogether forty-seven years.[25]

Because of the unsettled policy of the Charleston public schools they
changed principals every year or two, to the detriment of the system
and progress of the student body. Rev. J. W. Dansbury served for a
while as principal, and H. B. Rice, who entered the service as an
assistant in 1888, became principal some time later and served about
four years. Mr. Davis, who had been demoted to a subordinate position,
was then reinstated, but not long thereafter came Mr. C. W. Boyd, who
had rendered valuable service in Clarksburg and had later found
employment in the public schools of Charleston. He succeeded Mr. Davis
as principal. At the close of one year, however, Mr. Rice was
reinstated and served for a number of years, at the expiration of
which Mr. Boyd again became principal and remained in the position
long enough to give some stability to the procedure and plans of the
system and to secure the confidence of the patrons of the schools.
Some of the valuable assistants serving during this period were Mr.
William B. Boss, Miss Blanche Jeffries, Mrs. Fannie Cobb Carter and
Byrd Prillerman, whose career as a teacher includes a period of short
and valuable service in the Charleston public schools.[26]

At what is now Institute, in Union district, there was established in
the fall of 1872 another Negro school, opened on the subscription
basis in the home of Mrs. Mollie Berry, nee Cabell. Mrs. Berry was the
first teacher of this school. The building is occupied at present by a
Mr. James and owned now by Mrs. Berry's daughter, Mrs. Cornie
Robinso