School for colored people at Tuskegee and appropriated for it $2,000
yearly, it made no provision whatever for land or buildings; these were
left to be provided for by the people who were to be benefited by the
school. Here was almost a case of being required to make bricks without
straw. But as matters have turned out, this neglect was the best thing
that could have happened to the school. First it gave opportunity for
the employment of those splendid qualities of pluck, self-help, and
perseverance which have distinguished Mr. Washington so preeminently in
the building of Tuskegee. Moreover, the State has contributed nothing to
the school in the way of land or buildings; it has not sought to control
the property of the institution, leaving it free to be managed by the
Board of Trustees.
The school was opened on the 4th of July, 1881, in an old church
building in the town of Tuskegee, which lies nearly two miles from the
present school-grounds. Later in the same year the growth of the school
made it necessary to obtain additional room, which was found in a
dilapidated shanty standing near the church and which had been used as
the village schoolhouse since the war. These buildings were in such bad
condition that when it rained it was necessary for the teacher and
students to use umbrellas in order to protect themselves from the
elements while recitations were being conducted.
Students who came from a distance boarded in families in the town, where
the conditions of living were very much like those in their own homes,
and these were far below proper standards. Mr. Washington, understanding
the great need for colored people to be trained in correct ways of
living as well as to be educated in books, determined to secure a
permanent location for the school, with buildings in which the students
might live under the care and influence of teachers day and night,
during the whole period of their connection with the school.
[Illustration: WARREN LOGAN.
Treasurer of the School.]
It so happened at this time that there was an old farm of 100 acres in
the western part of the town of Tuskegee, well suited to be the site of
such a school, which could be had for $500. But where was the money to
be found to pay for it? Mr. Washington himself had no money, and the
people of the town, much interested as they were in the enterprise, were
wholly unable to give direct financial assistance. General J. F. B.
Marshall, then treasurer of the Hampton Institute in Virginia, was
appealed to for a loan of $200 with which to make the first payment.
This he gladly made, and the farm was secured. In a few months
sufficient money was raised from entertainments and subscriptions in the
North and South (one friend in Connecticut giving $300) to return the
loan of General Marshall and pay the balance due on the purchase of the
property.
The land thus secured, preparations were at once begun to put up a
school building, toward the cost of which Mr. A. H. Porter, of Brooklyn,
N. Y., gave $500, the structure being named Porter Hall in recognition
of Mr. Porter's generosity. In this building, which has three stories
and a basement, all the operations of the school were for a time
conducted. In the basement were a kitchen, dining-room, laundry, and
commissary. The first story was devoted to academic and industrial
class-rooms; in the second was an assembly-room, where devotions and
public exercises for the whole school were held, while the third was
given up to dormitories.
From this small beginning has grown the present extensive plant at
Tuskegee, comprising 2,300 acres of land, on which are located 123
buildings of all kinds devoted to the uses of the institution. Some idea
of the impression which the size of the school makes upon one who sees
it for the first time may be gathered from the remark of a Northern
visitor, who, upon returning to his home from a trip through the South,
was asked by a friend if he had seen "Booker Washington's school."
"School?" he replied. "I have seen Booker Washington's city."
About 150 acres constitute the present campus, the rest of the
school-lands being devoted to farms, truck-gardens, pastures,
brick-yards, etc. Running through the grounds proper and extending the
entire distance of the farms for two or three miles is a driveway, on
either side of which, and on roads leading from it, are located the
buildings of the Institute. These, for the most part, are brick
structures, and have been built by the students themselves under the
direction of their instructors in the various building trades. The plans
for these buildings have been drawn in the architectural-drawing
division of the Institute. While not as ornate as the buildings of some
other institutions, they are substantial and well adapted to the uses
for which they are intended. The newer buildings, constructed in the
last ten years, are more artistic and imposing, showing great
improvement in matters of architectural design and finish. Not only have
the students performed the building operations that entered into the
construction of these buildings, but they have also manufactured the
brick, and have prepared much of the wooden and other materials that
were used. We sometimes speak of a man as self-made, but I have never
known another great educational institution that could be so described.
Tuskegee, itself, is distinctively self-made.
Porter Hall was completed and occupied in the spring of 1883. The
following year a brick building for girls was undertaken, and two years
later completed. This building, named Alabama Hall, is rectangular in
shape and four stories high. It contains a kitchen and dining-room,
reception-rooms, apartments of the Dean of the Woman's Department, and
sleeping-rooms. There was no special gift made for this building, the
money required for its erection being taken from the general funds of
the Institute as they could be spared. A wing added later gave more
space for dining-rooms and provided a number of sleeping-rooms.
The money used in putting up the buildings at Tuskegee is made to do
double duty. In the first place, it provides the buildings for which it
was primarily given, and, in the second place, furnishes opportunities
for young men to learn the trades which are employed in their
construction. Following closely upon the completion of Alabama Hall,
there was begun another brick structure to be used as a dormitory for
young men. Olivia Davidson Hall bears the honored name of the school's
first and only Assistant Principal. Miss Davidson performed a
conspicuous part in establishing the school and placing its claim for
support before the public. This building is a four-story structure, and
the first of the school's buildings for which the plans were made by the
teacher of architectural drawing. The plans for all the buildings put up
by the Institute are now made in the division of architectural drawing
in charge of Mr. R. R. Taylor, a graduate of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, who is ably assisted by Mr. W. S. Pittman, a
graduate of Tuskegee and of the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia.
The need for a building to house the mechanical industries which, until
1892, had been conducted in temporary frame buildings on different parts
of the grounds, led to the erection of Cassedy Hall, a three-story brick
building standing at the east entrance to the grounds. Cassedy Hall,
together with a smaller building devoted to a blacksmith shop and
foundry, was used for the purpose mentioned, until three years ago, when
all the industries for men were moved into the Slater-Armstrong Memorial
Trades Building, at the opposite end of the grounds. Through the
generosity of Mr. George F. Peabody, of New York, Cassedy Hall has since
been converted into a dormitory for young men, and serves admirably for
this purpose.
Phelps Hall, which is the Bible Training School Building, is the gift of
two New York ladies who desired to do something to improve the Negro
ministry. The building is of wood and has three stories, containing a
lecture-hall, recitation-rooms, library, and sleeping-rooms for young
men. A broad veranda extends entirely around the building. Last year
there were enrolled fifty-six students for the course in Bible Training,
and among them were a number of ordained ministers who have regular
charges. Phelps Hall was dedicated in 1892, Dr. Lyman Abbott preaching
the dedicatory sermon and General Samuel C. Armstrong delivering an
address, which was among his last public utterances.
In the next year Science Hall (now called Thrasher Hall, after the
lamented Max Bennett Thrasher) was built. This is a handsome three-story
building, with recitation-rooms and laboratories in the first two
stories, and sleeping-rooms for teachers and boys in the third story.
About this time a frame cottage with two stories and attic was built by
the school as a residence for Mr. Washington. This he occupied until the
gift of two Brooklyn friends enabled him to erect on his own lot, just
opposite the school-grounds, his present handsome brick residence, where
he dispenses a generous hospitality to the school's guests and to the
teachers of the Institute. The cottage which he vacated was afterward
utilized for a time as a library, but now is the home of Director Bruce
of the Academic Department.
Alabama Hall, already mentioned, soon proved inadequate to meet the
needs of the Woman's Department. A long one-story frame building, having
the shape of a letter T, was then erected just in the rear of Alabama
Hall. It has been used for girls' sleeping-rooms until this year, when
it was taken down to make room for a park and playground for young
women. There were also successively built for the growing demands of
this department, and in the vicinity of the original girls' building,
Willow Cottage, Hamilton Cottage, Parker Memorial Home, Huntington Hall,
and only this last year Douglass Hall. Huntington Hall is the gift of
Mrs. Collis P. Huntington. In design, finish, and appointments it is one
of the best buildings owned by the school.
Three years ago a wealthy but unostentatious gentleman, who would not
permit his name to be used in connection with his benefaction, gave the
school $25,000 for a building for girls, suggesting that the structure
should bear the name of some noted Negro. Douglass Hall was erected with
this money and named in honor of that great leader of the race,
Frederick Douglass. It is a two-story brick building, with a basement in
its central section, and contains 40 sleeping-rooms, a reception-room,
bathrooms, and a large assembly-room with a seating capacity or 450. In
this room the Dean of the Woman's Department holds meetings with the
girls on questions of health, morals, and manners. The building is
heated with steam and lighted by electricity. All in all, Douglass Hall
is the best of the buildings so far built by the Institute, and is a
fitting monument to the man whose name it bears.
The Slater-Armstrong Memorial Agricultural Building was completed and
dedicated in 1897. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture of the
United States, honored the school by his presence and an address on the
occasion of the formal opening of this building. It is a brick structure
of two-and-a-half stories, with recitation-rooms, laboratory, museums,
library, and an office for the use of the Department of Agriculture. In
addition to its appropriation of $3,000 for the general work of the
school, the State of Alabama makes an annual appropriation of $1,500 for
the maintenance of an Agricultural Experiment Station. The plots of the
Station and the school-farm are in close proximity to the Agricultural
Building, and on these the young men taking the course in Agriculture
put in practise the theories which they learn in the class-room. Many
important experiments have been undertaken by the Station, of
particular interest being those relating to soil building, the
hybridization of sea-island cotton with some of the common short-staple
varieties, fertilizer tests with potatoes, by which it has been shown
that it is possible to raise as much as 266 bushels per acre on light,
sandy soil such as that comprising the school-lands, while the average
yield in the same part of Alabama is not more than 40 bushels to the
acre.
The next building of importance to be put up after the Agricultural
Building was the Chapel. Another gift from the two New York ladies who
gave the money for Phelps Hall made possible this magnificent structure,
admittedly one of the most imposing church edifices in the South. It is
built of brick, 1,200,000 bricks entering into its construction, all of
which were laid by student masons. It has stone trimmings, and in shape
is a cross, the nave with choir having a length of 154 feet, and the
distance through the transept being 106 feet. There are anterooms and a
study for the Chaplain of the Institute. Including the gallery the
seating capacity is 2,400. Here all gatherings of the school for
religious and other purposes are now held. The great Tuskegee Negro
Conference that assembles in February of each year holds its meetings
in the Chapel. Near the Chapel are the Barracks, two long, roughly
constructed one-story frame buildings, which are used as sleeping
quarters for young men until they can be better housed in permanent
buildings.
Until 1900 the mechanical industries at Tuskegee were conducted in
Cassedy Hall and some adjoining frame buildings. In that year they were
moved into the commodious quarters which the then just completed
Slater-Armstrong Memorial Trades Building furnished. This building is
rectangular in shape, is built about a central court, and covers more
space than any other of the school buildings. In its outside dimensions
it is 283 feet by 315 feet. The front half of the building is two
stories high, the rear half one story. It is constructed of brick, with
a tin roof, and, like the other larger buildings at the Institute, has
steam heat and electric light. The money for this building came in part
from the J. W. and Belinda L. Randall Charities Fund of Boston and the
steadfast friend of the school, Mr. George Foster Peabody, of New York.
There is a tablet in the building bearing the following inscription:
"This tablet is erected in memory of the generosity of J. W. and
Belinda L. Randall, of Boston, Massachusetts, from whose estate $20,000
were received toward the erection of the building."
The various shops in this building are fairly well equipped with tools
and apparatus to do the work required of them and to teach the trades
pursued by the young men. Taking the Machine Division as an example, we
find it supplied with one 18-inch lathe, one 14-inch lathe, one 20-inch
planer, one 12-inch shaping-machine, one 20-inch drill-press, one
6-1/2-inch pipe-cutting and threading machine, one Brown and Sharpe
tool-grinder, one sensitive drill-press, and, of course, the customary
tools that go with these machines. The Electric-Lighting Plant is also
located in this building. Not only does this Division light the
buildings and grounds of the Institute, but it furnishes light to
individuals in the town of Tuskegee, which is, at present, without other
electric-lighting facilities.
In 1895 the school suffered the loss by fire of its well-appointed barn,
together with some of its finest milch cows. This is the only serious
fire that has occurred in the history of the school--a record almost
unparalleled in an establishment so large. This fact has led to the
school being able to get insurance at a lower rate than is generally
given to educational institutions. It was not until 1900 that the school
fully recovered from the loss of its barn. In this year friends in
Brooklyn gave the money with which to rebuild the barn on a larger
scale. It was deemed wise not to put all the money into one building,
but to erect numbers of smaller ones and locate them so as to minimize
the fire risk. Accordingly, plans were made to build a hennery,
creamery, dairy-barn, horse-barn, carriage-house, tool-house, piggery,
silos, and slaughter-house. All these buildings were at once put up, and
are now giving effective service. At present the school owns 47 horses
and colts, 76 mules, 495 cows and calves, 601 pigs, and 977 fowls of
different kinds. These animals are all of good stock, some of them being
thoroughbreds, and are cared for by the students who work in the
Agricultural Department.
Dorothy Hall, the building which accommodates the Girls' Industrial
Department, was built in 1901 on the side of the driveway opposite the
Boys' Trades Building. This building is the gift of the two New York
ladies who gave the Chapel and Phelps Hall. It serves its purpose
admirably, the rooms being large, well lighted, and airy. Here are
conducted all the trades taught to young women, including sewing,
dressmaking, millinery, laundering, cooking, housekeeping,
mattress-making, upholstering, broom-making, and basketry. As with the
boys' trades, there is a very fair equipment of accessories for proper
teaching.
In point of time, the next important building provided was the Carnegie
Library, Mr. Carnegie giving $20,000 for the building and furnishings.
The structure is two stories high, with massive Corinthian columns on
the front. It contains, besides the library proper, a large
assembly-room, an historical room, study-rooms, and offices for the
Librarian. The building and the furniture are the product of student
labor.
In 1901, with $2,000 given by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, of Boston, and $100
contributed by graduates of the Institute as a nucleus, the Children's
House was built. This is a one-story frame building of good proportions,
in which the primary school of the town is taught. It is the
practise-school for students of the Institute who mean to teach. A
kindergarten has also been established.
Mr. Rockefeller has given a dormitory for boys, which was completed and
occupied last year. The lack of adequate sleeping quarters for young
men, from which the school has suffered from the beginning, was very
materially supplied in Rockefeller Hall, which is a three-story brick
structure, furnishing accommodations for 150 students. This need for
dormitories has been still further met through the gift of three brick
cottages by Miss Julia Emery, an American now living in London. Two of
these buildings were finished last year, and young men are now living in
them. The third is nearing completion. All are two stories high, with a
hall running through the middle, and contain 40 rooms of good size.
Until last year the offices of the Institute were scattered over the
grounds wherever room could be found. A New York friend, who does not
permit the use of his name, seeing the need of the school for a building
in which the offices might be concentrated, thus greatly increasing the
efficiency of its administrative work, gave $19,000 for this purpose.
The Office Building, completed in the latter part of 1903, is the result
of this benefaction. It is two-and-a-half stories high, and contains the
offices of the Principal, the Principal's Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor,
Business Agent, Commandant, Registrar, and the Post-Office and Savings
Department.
[Illustration: THE OFFICE BUILDING IN PROCESS OF ERECTION.
Student carpenters shown at work.]
The most pretentious building owned by the Institute is the Collis P.
Huntington Memorial Building, the new home of the Academic Department,
which is the gift of Mrs. Huntington as a memorial to her husband, who
was one of Tuskegee's stanchest supporters. It is built near the site of
the original building, Porter Hall, which it displaces as the center of
the academic work of the school. The outside dimensions are 183 feet by
103 feet. It is four stories in height. Besides recitation-rooms for all
the classes, it contains a gymnasium in the basement for young women,
and an assembly-room on the top floor capable of seating 800 persons.
The finishing is in yellow pine. The buildings of the Institute show a
steady progression in quality of workmanship, materials, and
architectural design and efficiency, from the rather rough, wooden
Porter Hall erected by hired workmen in 1882 to the stately Huntington
Hall built by students in 1904.
Located at different points on the grounds and on lots detached are
cottages occupied as residences by teachers and officers of the
Institute.
The furnishings for all the buildings, as well as the buildings
themselves, have been made by the students in the various shops, who at
the same time were learning trades and creating articles of use.
The annual cost of conducting the institution is, in round numbers,
$150,000. This may seem high, but when certain facts in regard to the
work are borne in mind it will not appear exorbitant. In the first
place, there are really three schools at Tuskegee--a day-school, a
night-school, and a trade-school. Such a system makes necessary the
employment of a larger number of teachers than would be needed in a
purely academic institution holding only one session a day. Teachers in
the trade-school, with special technical training, can be obtained only
by paying them higher salaries than are paid to those who simply teach
in the class-rooms.
Secondly, and principally, it is expensive to employ student labor to do
the work of the school. By the time students become fairly proficient in
their trades and reach the point where their services begin to be
profitable, their time at the institution has expired, and a new,
untrained set take their places, so that the school is constantly
working on new material or raw recruits. Then, too, Tuskegee is still in
the formative period of its growth as to buildings, laying-out and
improvement of grounds, and equipment of its various departments. When
the school's needs in these directions shall have been met, and the
Negro parent shall become able to pay a larger share of the cost of
educating his children, the expenses to the public of running the school
may be materially reduced.
Money for the support of the school is derived principally from the
following sources, viz.: The State of Alabama, $4,500; the John F.
Slater Fund, $10,000; the General Education Board, $10,000; the Peabody
Fund, $1,500; the Institute's Endowment Fund, $40,000; contributions of
persons and charitable organizations, $84,000; a total of $150,000. The
individual contributions are, for the most part, small, and come from
persons of moderate means. Yet the institution annually receives some
large gifts toward its expenses from those who are blessed with wealth.
Especial appeals are made by the institution for scholarships of $50
each, in order to pay the tuition of students who provide for their
other expenses themselves largely by their work for the school, but who
are unable to contribute anything toward the item of teaching. These
scholarships are not turned over to the students, but are held by the
institution and assigned for their benefit, the aim being to do nothing
for students which they can do for themselves, and thus help to develop
in them a spirit of manly and womanly self-reliance.
The majority of the large donations, aside from those for endowment,
have been for buildings and the purchase of additional farm-lands made
necessary by the enlargement of the school's agricultural work.
What may be regarded as the greatest need of the institution is an
adequate endowment which will put it upon a permanent basis and make its
future certain.
A gratifying beginning in the building up of an endowment has already
been made. It is a fact, still well remembered by the public, that Mr.
Andrew Carnegie has given to the endowment fund the princely sum of
$600,000. Before that time $400,000 had been collected from other
sources for the same purpose, the largest single contribution toward
this amount being $50,000 from the late Collis P. Huntington.
As already stated, the income from the present endowment is $40,000, out
of which several annuities are paid. This is only a little more than
one-fourth of the amount that must be had each year to pay the expenses
of the school. It will require an endowment of at least $3,000,000 to
yield an income adequate to the present needs of the institution alone.
III
THE ACADEMIC AIMS
BY ROSCOE CONKLING BRUCE