Professor Shaw, the principal of this school, was born of slave parents at Louisburg, N. C., June 19, 1863. He entered Lincoln University in 1881 and graduated in 1886. Devoted one year to the study of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Graduated from Auburn Theological Seminary, of Auburn, N. Y., in 1890.
It was while he was at Auburn that he made the acquaintance of Mrs. Potter, who offered him encouragement in the line of work he had mapped out for his life.
While in Oxford, he has succeeded in organizing a church and building up the school. Mr. Shaw tells me that he contemplates adding an industrial department to the school shortly and thereby increasing its usefulness.
COTTON PLANT ACADEMY.
Cotton Plant Academy is located at Cotton Plant, Ark. Rev. F. C. Potter, Principal. It is a school for co-education, and is doing very good work for the moral uplifting of the colored people in the section where it is located.
RICHARD ALLEN INSTITUTE.
Named after Rev. R. H. Allen, D. D., late Secretary of Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church; is the outgrowth of the Mission established in 1885 by the Presbytery of Pine Bluff, Ark.
The school was opened November 7, 1887, in the dwelling-house of the principal, and at first occupied one room; a second and then a third were soon in demand; from an enrolment of twenty-one pupils it increased to 138, and has steadily advanced until the roll has reached nearly 300. With the assistance of Messrs. W. B. Alexander, J. W. Crawford, J. B. Speers, Judge W. S. McCain, J. R. Westbrooks, et al.; a title with no encumbrance was secured to the property, and a building commenced, foundation and studding in place, when the weather prevented further work. When completed, this building had four rooms below, two rooms in second story, and one extended room on the third floor. In this, from 250 to 300 pupils were accommodated. The loss of this house by fire on the 17th of January, 1894, was a severe blow, entailing a loss of $5,000, confining the whole school in the dormitory of Richard Allen Institute, which was erected in 1892, by the assistance of Miss Mary E. Holmes, and fitted up to accommodate a number of pupils.
This is a chartered Institute under the laws of Arkansas, and is supported like all other Missions under the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Lewis Johnston, Principal.