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Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a state-related and independent historically Black institution located in Tuskegee, Alabama, that has a teaching and research emphasis. Its first president, Booker T. Washington, and an early faculty member, George Washington Carver, are among the illustrious figures associated with the university. The only college or university designated a National Historic Site by the U.S. Congress, Tuskegee is home to the George Washington Carver Museum, the Oaks—Washington's home—and the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.
The School of Veterinary Medicine is the only one of its kind at a historically Black institution, and the school produces more than 75% of African American veterinarians in the world. Tuskegee is also the number one producer of African American aerospace science engineers in the nation and a leading source of chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineers. In addition, the university is home to the winningest Black college football team in the United States.
The university comprises five academic colleges, specifically, the colleges of Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Sciences; College of Business and Information Science; College of Engineering, Architecture and Physical Sciences; College of Liberal Arts and Education; and the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health. Approximately 50 majors are offered that lead to baccalaureate, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.
The university consists of a coeducational student body of roughly 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students who represent 48 states and more than 30 countries. Spread over 268 acres, Tuskegee occupies 161 buildings, and total property exceeds 5,000 acres. This entry traces its history by looking at the five men who have led Tuskegee University over its first 125 years.
Booker T. Washington
Founded in a one-room shanty at Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Tuskegee was the project of George Campbell, a past enslaver, and Lewis Adams, a formerly enslaved African. On July 4, 1881, Alabama House Bill 165 was passed, allocating a $2,000 appropriation for teacher salaries. There was no physical property or buildings; however, there was state authorization for the establishment of the school to educate Macon County residents. Campbell, through his nephew, was seeking a teacher to run Tuskegee, and he recruited an individual from Hampton Institute. Booker Taliaferro Washington was called on to be the first principal.
Born enslaved around 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia, Booker T. Washington became one of the most preeminent leaders in U.S. history. Washington worked in a salt furnace and in coal mines; he was educated at Hampton Institute and mentored by General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. He was rooted in the industrial education philosophy of “working with the hands” coupled with the use of morality, decency, and order.
As Tuskegee's first principal, Washington is one of the best-known Tuskegee leaders. He developed Tuskegee as a magnet for White northern industrial dollars, raising millions for the industrial institution. Trades such as sewing, cooking, harnessing, carpentry, brick making, and machinery were mainstays of the Washington curricula. His philosophy did not win the favor of some Whites, who claimed that educating the African Americans would lead to the economic devalue of their industries and might lead African Americans to not want to work in domestic positions.
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