Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 Birmingham Civil Rights Marches and in conjunction with a tour of Civil Rights historical sites in Alabama that I am leading for a group of Athens youth, I have prepared a series of brief essays on Civil Rights history.
During the decades following the abolition of slavery and the end of the Civil War, black Americans engaged in a struggle for self sufficiency and enjoyment of the rights that were gained through emancipation. A great part of the struggle focused on education and training for the approximately 4 million southern black Americans that had been freed from slavery (approximately 13% of the U.S. population). A debate gradually emerged between black leaders like W.E.B. Dubois (The Souls of Black Folk, 1903) who recommended a strategy of confrontation and protest for the needs and rights of black Americans and leaders such as Booker T. Washington (Up From Slavery, 1901) who emphasized cooperation and networking with influential leaders both white and black in an effort to assist blacks to gradually raise themselves up and improve their situation.
Perhaps these alternative strategies worked as a kind of dialectic, with political activism and protest taking the form of organizations such as the NAACP, and the educational efforts finding expression in institutions which became known as HBCU – Historically Black Colleges and Universities, alongside other training and educational efforts such as agricultural research and educational extension programs promoted by leaders like Dr. George Washington Carver. Progress for black Americans was slow. In many ways, American legal, political and social institutions regressed into more racist practices. But the multiplied efforts of innumerable individual citizens, churches and advocacy groups, political associations and educational institutions eventually led to a period of dramatic and rapid legal, political and social change beginning in 1954.
Foremost among the educational institutions that worked to advance the cause of progress for black Americans was the Tuskegee Institute, founded July 4, 1881.To advance the cause of black “industrial” education, Booker T. Washington solicited the help of wealthy philanthropists to raise money for the school. Promoting practical trades and training, students themselves were involved in construction of most of the campus buildings through work study programs. Later known as the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute and eventually as Tuskegee University, the school became one of the strongest southern institutions promoting and supporting the founding and construction of thousands of rural schools as part of a larger public school movement.
The Booker T. Washington Monument, “Lifting the Veil” stands at the center of the Tuskegee campus and commemorates the school’s early mission .. “He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.”
Some highlights of Tuskegee’s history are taken from the Tuskegee website:
• Originator and producer of the famous "Tuskegee Airmen," in partnership with the U.S. Army Air Corps.
• Producer of the first African-American four-star general: Daniel "Chappie" James.
• The producer of the first African-American winner of the National Book Award, Ralph Ellison for his book, Invisible Man.
• Number one producer of African-American aerospace science engineers in the nation.
• A leading producer in the country of African-American engineering graduates in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering.
• The top producer of African-American Ph.D. holders in Materials Science and Engineering in the U.S.
• The only historically black college or university with a fully accredited College of Veterinary Medicine that offers the Doctoral Degree, and produces over 75% of the African-American veterinarians in the world.
• The only historically black college or university in the nation designated as the location for National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.
• The first nursing baccalaureate program in Alabama and one of the oldest in the United States.
• The only college or university campus in the nation to be designated a National Historic Site by the U.S. Congress.
• Produced more African-American general officers in the military than any other institution, including the service academies.
• The largest producer of African-Americans with baccalaureate degrees in Math, Science and Engineering in Alabama.
• A center for Plant Biotechnology Research which is training U.S. Scientists and students as well as scientists from Ghana, China, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, and Tanzania to continue work of Dr. George Washington Carver in today's cutting edge science and technology.
• One of two centers funded by NASA to develop a technology for growing food in space during human space missions.
• The only historically black college or university, and one of only 11 universities in the world funded and authorized by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to establish and operate a Kellogg Conference Center, which is the technologically sophisticated hub of Continuing Education and Hospitality/Tourism Management Training.
• The offspring of two American giants, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.
I cannot neglect to mention that most of the members of the band The Commodores met as freshmen at Tuskegee Institute in the late 1960s.
http://www.civil-war.net/census.asp?census=Total
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington
http://www.tuskegee.edu/
During the decades following the abolition of slavery and the end of the Civil War, black Americans engaged in a struggle for self sufficiency and enjoyment of the rights that were gained through emancipation. A great part of the struggle focused on education and training for the approximately 4 million southern black Americans that had been freed from slavery (approximately 13% of the U.S. population). A debate gradually emerged between black leaders like W.E.B. Dubois (The Souls of Black Folk, 1903) who recommended a strategy of confrontation and protest for the needs and rights of black Americans and leaders such as Booker T. Washington (Up From Slavery, 1901) who emphasized cooperation and networking with influential leaders both white and black in an effort to assist blacks to gradually raise themselves up and improve their situation.
Perhaps these alternative strategies worked as a kind of dialectic, with political activism and protest taking the form of organizations such as the NAACP, and the educational efforts finding expression in institutions which became known as HBCU – Historically Black Colleges and Universities, alongside other training and educational efforts such as agricultural research and educational extension programs promoted by leaders like Dr. George Washington Carver. Progress for black Americans was slow. In many ways, American legal, political and social institutions regressed into more racist practices. But the multiplied efforts of innumerable individual citizens, churches and advocacy groups, political associations and educational institutions eventually led to a period of dramatic and rapid legal, political and social change beginning in 1954.
Foremost among the educational institutions that worked to advance the cause of progress for black Americans was the Tuskegee Institute, founded July 4, 1881.To advance the cause of black “industrial” education, Booker T. Washington solicited the help of wealthy philanthropists to raise money for the school. Promoting practical trades and training, students themselves were involved in construction of most of the campus buildings through work study programs. Later known as the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute and eventually as Tuskegee University, the school became one of the strongest southern institutions promoting and supporting the founding and construction of thousands of rural schools as part of a larger public school movement.
The Booker T. Washington Monument, “Lifting the Veil” stands at the center of the Tuskegee campus and commemorates the school’s early mission .. “He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.”
Some highlights of Tuskegee’s history are taken from the Tuskegee website:
• Originator and producer of the famous "Tuskegee Airmen," in partnership with the U.S. Army Air Corps.
• Producer of the first African-American four-star general: Daniel "Chappie" James.
• The producer of the first African-American winner of the National Book Award, Ralph Ellison for his book, Invisible Man.
• Number one producer of African-American aerospace science engineers in the nation.
• A leading producer in the country of African-American engineering graduates in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering.
• The top producer of African-American Ph.D. holders in Materials Science and Engineering in the U.S.
• The only historically black college or university with a fully accredited College of Veterinary Medicine that offers the Doctoral Degree, and produces over 75% of the African-American veterinarians in the world.
• The only historically black college or university in the nation designated as the location for National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.
• The first nursing baccalaureate program in Alabama and one of the oldest in the United States.
• The only college or university campus in the nation to be designated a National Historic Site by the U.S. Congress.
• Produced more African-American general officers in the military than any other institution, including the service academies.
• The largest producer of African-Americans with baccalaureate degrees in Math, Science and Engineering in Alabama.
• A center for Plant Biotechnology Research which is training U.S. Scientists and students as well as scientists from Ghana, China, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, and Tanzania to continue work of Dr. George Washington Carver in today's cutting edge science and technology.
• One of two centers funded by NASA to develop a technology for growing food in space during human space missions.
• The only historically black college or university, and one of only 11 universities in the world funded and authorized by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to establish and operate a Kellogg Conference Center, which is the technologically sophisticated hub of Continuing Education and Hospitality/Tourism Management Training.
• The offspring of two American giants, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.
I cannot neglect to mention that most of the members of the band The Commodores met as freshmen at Tuskegee Institute in the late 1960s.
http://www.civil-war.net/census.asp?census=Total
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington
http://www.tuskegee.edu/