Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute

Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute was established in 1881 by Alabama lawmakers, who enacted a bill sponsored by a former slave owner, George Campbell, as part of a deal for his reelection campaign. Campbell negotiated with a skilled tradesman and community leader named Lewis Adams in order to secure the African American vote in Macon County during his campaign to retain a seat in the Alabama senate. Despite a lack of formal education, Adams longed to see the community of former slaves obtain access to education; therefore, Adams requested support for a school for Negroes in return for his involvement in the campaign. Campbell's victory was based in part on the support of black [Page 2100]voters in the county, and he fulfilled his promise to Adams.

Ultimately, Campbell and Adams worked together on the first board of commissioners to organize the school. The Alabama legislature appropriated an annual budget of $2,000 for teachers’ salaries. Campbell was also responsible for contacting Hampton Institute in Virginia about his desire to hire a white teacher for the newly appropriated school. Samuel C. Armstrong, the principal of Hampton at that time, wrote back that he did not have a white teacher, but he did have one who would do an excellent job. Armstrong went on to extol the accomplishments of one Booker Taliaferro Washington, who was teaching in a new program for Native American students. Consequently, Washington became the first principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in 1881

Booker T. Washington and Tuskegee

Booker T. Washington believed the aim of education was to determine the needs of the people and to design programs of instruction to meet those needs. In preparation for the design of the Tuskegee institute, Washington spent a month traveling through Macon County to learn about the people and their respective challenges. His guiding principle was that leadership consisted of finding people where they were and guiding them to where they ought to be. This educational philosophy was summed up as “lifting the whole life to a higher level.” During this monthlong tour, Washington recruited Tuskegee's first class of 30 students, who were primarily teachers from the cotton belt area. His two primary criteria for this cohort were the students’ ages and their ability to read. As the state senate appropriation did not include funding for land, buildings, or supplies for the institute, Washington was faced with a new challenge. Campbell and Adams helped identify a location for the school. Adams persuaded Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion church to help, and the school was opened in a facility provided by the church that was basically a dilapidated shanty.

Transcript

• ‘Yes, the Nazis destroyed our monuments in France, but our monuments here stand and will always stand.’ The founder of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington, 1856-1915. ‘He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people, and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.’ The late George Washington Carver, honored in the chemistry of agriculture, and the men and women building the monuments of tomorrow. Law, elected judge at New York City Courts, serving his second ten-year term. Explorer, the only other American with Admiral Peary when our flag was planted on the North Pole. Medicine, leading New York City surgeon. Father of the blues. Financier and publisher, contributing to the war bond drive. Education, principal of a New York City public school. Curator, Schomburg Collection of Literature. International prize-winning sculptor. Singer. Men and women in every walk of life all trained and educated in schools like:
• [Sung] Howard will shine a light, Hampton will shine; Tuskegee will shine a light, all of the time. Prairie View will shine a light, or Fisk will shine.

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