With the help of his father he created the Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute in roughly 1895.

[1][4][5] From 1900 until June 1915, Benson serving as the founding president to the Dixie Industrial Company, an industry-centered company designed to put his former students to work locally.

[1][6] He was ousted by the stockholders,[6] which ended in a legal battle that continued after his death.

After Benson's death in October 1915, he was buried on the grounds of the Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute.

The school he created continued for many more years after his death, educating hundreds of Black students[5] during a place and time where this education was difficult to access.