He was also a pharmacist and the founder of Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc. Polk Miller was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, in August 1844.

At his drugstore in Richmond, Miller began making remedies for Sergeant, his favorite hunting dog.

In his own words: "As an entertainer, it has been my aim to vindicate the slave-holding class against the charge of cruelty and inhumanity to the negro of the old time.

"[2][3] Polk Miller and his "Old South Quartette" had a variety show of "Stories, Sketches and Songs" depicting African American life before the Civil War.

Miller and his quartet played colleges and military schools, as well as the "most exclusive social clubs" in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.

[13] It is notable in that it recorded the problems with racial discrimination the five faced in both the northern and southern portions of the United States as the group traveled and toured.

Bon Air Elementary was the inspiration for a series of children's books about the kids of the Polk Street School, by Patricia Reilly Giff.