Photograph of Reverend John L. Dart laying the cornerstone of the Charleston Industrial Institute, ca. 1890s. Born free before the Civil War, John L. Dart was the valedictorian of the Avery Normal Institute’s first graduating class in 1872. In 1894, Reverend Dart founded the Charleston Industrial Institute, the first vocational public school for Black students in the city.*
*Avery: the Spirit that Would Not Die: http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/avery/averyintro
Courtesy of Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture