In 1888 Darnes served residents during a terrible yellow fever epidemic, when half the population fled the city.

Her study of their photos and detailed work on the statues made her aware of the two men's close physical resemblance.

After preparatory work, Darnes attended Lincoln University, a historically black college founded in 1854 in Pennsylvania.

Darnes went to medical school at Howard University, a black college founded soon after the Civil War in Washington, D.C.

He won praise for his work during the smallpox and yellow fever epidemics that swept Jacksonville in the late 19th century.

These included the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1887-1888 that swept the South, reaching Jacksonville in the summer of 1888.

Darnes was accepted into the Freemasons, became a member of the local Masonic Temple, and rose to a position of prominence.

Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent black denomination in the United States.

[4] The brothers later collaborated to write and compose "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing", known as "The Negro National Anthem."