After a devastating fire destroyed the North Alabama Baptist Academy building in 1928, local farmer Frank Davis and his wife, Annie Lee, offered their house in the part of town once known as "The Hill" as classroom space for African American students. Their house served as a school until the late 1940s, when Principal Richard A. Hubbard, with community assistance, purchased nearby land and decommissioned Army barracks from the airfield in Courtland to house the school. The Davis family also allowed students at the school, then known as Courtland Colored High School, to grow vegetables and raise chickens on the property as part of Tuskegee Institute's New Farmers of America program, and they continued boarding teachers in their home until the early 1970s. Their support for education in the African American community in North Courtland and the surrounding area helped the community overcome systemic inequality and segregation to provide educational opportunities for local children, and many graduates went on to earn higher education degrees and pursue careers in education, industry, or military service.