The school was sponsored by the Western Freedmen’s Aid Commission and the American Missionary Association, located in a Baptist church initially.

[1][2] It was the only high school for Black students in the county and the first school in the northern half of the state offering kindergarten for Black children,[3][1] during the time of Jim Crow laws.

[5] Wells would teach, canning fruits and vegetables for the winter, and returned north to raise funds for the school in the summers.

[8] In 1950, the school was transferred from the American Missionary Association to the state of Alabama.

[9] There have been efforts to preserve and restore what remains of the school sites and buildings.