Yardley Warner was a Quaker abolitionist who worked to establish schools for freed slaves after the Civil War. He walked 900 miles from Pennsylvania to Tennessee to help educate newly freed African Americans. Warner raised money and established over 20 primary schools for black children across Tennessee and other Southern states. The most significant was the Maryville Freedman's Institute, which trained black teachers and had over 200 students by 1889. Warner spent the last 20 years of his life establishing schools to provide education to African Americans.