Good News Network: 140 years ago today, the Tuskegee Institute opened in Alabama...
...as a one-room school. The esteemed historically-black college was founded with the permission and a $2,000 grant from legislators, with educator Booker T. Washington at the helm. 30 adult pupils attended the first classes in a shanty owned by an AME Zion Church.
Soon after, the campus was moved to a “100-acre abandoned plantation,” which is the present site, and where Dr. Washington is buried. 50 years later the number of students had increased 100-fold, and renowned botanist George Washington Carver conducted his pioneering studies on peanut cultivation there.
Dr. Frederick Patterson, who oversaw the establishment of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the university, brought the Tuskegee Airmen flight training program to the Institute. The all-Black fighter squadrons became highly decorated World War II combat veterans. Dr. Patterson also founded the United Negro College Fund, which has raised more than $1 billion for student aid.
At the time of Washington’s death in 1915, there were 1,500 students, a $2 million endowment, 40 majors, 200 faculty, and 100 buildings on campus. (1881)
No more text, some pics at link: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/events060704/
= new reply since forum marked as read
