He started out as a Missionary teacher under the Board of Home Missions for Freedmen during the summer months while attending Lincoln, and succeeded in building his first day-school at Mocksville, N. C., in 1869. From Mocksville, he was commissioned by the Board to West River, Md., where he labored for twelve years. From this place he was sent to Greensborough, N. C. Here he took charge of a school which had been previously organized and he made quite a success of the work. A few years later Mr. Swann returned to Lincoln for the purpose of taking a theological course. After finishing his studies he began his present work. His success has been marked and the results of his untiring efforts have been gratifying both to him and the Board. [Illustration: REV. J. B. SWANN.] MARY POTTER MEMORIAL SCHOOL. Mary Potter Memorial School is located at Oxford, N. C., and is under the management of Prof. G. C. Shaw. [Illustration: PROF. G. C. SHAW.] This school is named in honor of Mrs. Mary Potter, of Schenectady, N. Y., who was very much interested in the Freedmen and contributed liberally toward their educational improvement. She donated the money to start this school, and after it had become too small for the accommodation of the many young people who crowded into it, friends of Mrs. Potter and friends of the colored people contributed to its enlargement. It is now in a splendid condition and very creditable work is being accomplished. 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.