, and others, their associate and
successors were constituted and declared a body politic and corporate
by the name and title of "The Institution for the Education of Colored
Youth," to be located in the District of Columbia. Though this act of
Congress legalized the institution, the school appears to have lapsed
into inactivity from 1863 to 1871 because of the absence of its
guiding spirit, Miss Miner. On account of ill health she was
compelled to give up the work, and the strain and stress of civil
affairs reduced national interest and support to a minimum. After a
sojourn of three years in California in search of renewed energy and
more funds for the fulfillment of her plans and the consummation of
her ideals, Miss Miner departed from this life at the home of Mrs.
Nancy M. Johnson of Washington, D. C., on the 17th of December 1864.

In 1871 the work of the school was resumed in connection with Howard
University. A preparatory and Normal Department was opened and
controlled by this institution but supported by the Miner Funds. The
school existed in this connection until September 13, 1876, when it
began a separate and independent existence which lasted until 1879
when it was taken over by the school system of the District of
Columbia. From 1879 to 1887 the Miner Normal School was jointly
controlled by the Board[8] of Trustees of the Public Schools of the
District and the Miner Board of Trustees, the principal's salary being
paid by the Miner Board to which she made her reports while the
obligation of keeping up the enrollment of the school was assumed by
the Trustees representing the District Government.

In 1887 the Trustees of the District assumed full charge of the school
thus centralizing authority and management. The unification of the
dual management under District authority added keener interest on the
part of the citizenship of the community and a deeper feeling of
responsibility on the part of the faculty. Fortunately for the
institution, moreover, the women who succeeded Miss Miner as the heads
of this institution caught the great spirit of their predecessor and
in their efforts to continue the useful work which she had done,
followed so closely in the path which she had trodden as to assure
success and preclude any necessity for general reorganization.

The first of these women to take up the work of Miss Miner, was Miss
Mary B. Smith, of Beverly, Massachusetts, who was assisted by her
sister Miss Sarah