Tuskegee Heritage

Booker T. Washington started a small school in Tuskegee Alabama to train black men and women to be teachers.  The school believed that books were important but that experience in practical skills were also needed.  Washington felt the school of Tuskegee should be as self-sufficient as possible while teaching his students independence.  So the students learned to make bricks, nails (shown in the picture), learned carpentry, sewing, and many other skills.  They practiced by actually building the school doing the construction, brickwork, making desks, and even making school uniforms.  The building shown was made by students and is now a museum.

Over the years, Booker T. Washington became well known and respected while the school grew into a major university.  He spent much of his time speaking around the country and in Europe but still returned to the school for half of his time.

 

I love the independence and persistence.  The museum mentioned that they sometimes didn’t have all the knowledge they needed but they kept trying.  For instance, it took four tries to make the right kiln to fire the bricks.  Persistence!