Dr. J. W. Yancy II owned the College View Court-Hotel. He served as president of Paul Quinn College, the oldest historically black college in Texas, from 1939 to 1942. After leaving Paul Quinn, Dr. Yancy served as principal for the Olive Heights Junior High School and the J. Newton Jenkins Elementary School. He was heavily involved in the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church community and was part of the Negro Teachers Association of Texas and the Free and Accepted Masonic Lodges of Central Texas.