By the time of Washington's death, Tuskegee had 2,000 acres of land, 100 buildings, a faculty of nearly 200, and an endowment of close to $2 million. As it grew, the school also sponsored a number of endeavors, such as the Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference, the National Negro Business League, women's conferences, and National Negro Health Week. In the spirit of self-reliance, they planted crops, constructed a large number of buildings, and even built their own furniture. Students were not only taught academics, but also personal hygiene, moral development, and trades such as carpentry, brickmaking, farming, and domestic skills. He raised funds in the community and up north, becoming in the process a well-known public speaker. Washington therefore had to build the school literally from the ground up.

The state had allocated funds for teacher salaries but not for land, buildings, or materials. In 1881, Washington was selected to open the Tuskegee Institute, a school for colored teachers in Tuskegee, Alabama. Soon afterwards, he was invited back to Hampton to serve as a 'house father' for Indian youth and to start a night school. Washington was highly influenced by Armstrong and based Tuskegee in large part on Hampton.Īfter graduation, Washington taught for three years in a black school in Malden, then spent a few months at the Wayland Seminary in Washington, DC. General Armstrong had founded the institute he had led black troops in the Civil War and believed strongly in both industrial education and Christian values. With very little money, Washington made his way to Hampton, where he worked as a janitor. While working in the mines, he overheard two men speaking of the Hampton Institute, a school which accepted students of any race and allowed poor but worthy students to work off the cost of their board and also learn a trade. His mother bought him a spelling book from which he taught himself to read, and he eventually persuaded his stepfather to allow him to attend school. Washington was determined to receive an education. He spent much of his boyhood with his mother, two siblings, an adopted brother, and his stepfather in Malden, West Virginia, where he worked in a salt furnace, a coal mine, and the home of the mine's owner. He became a sought-after lecturer and was the dominant black leader from around 1890 until his death in 1915.īorn into slavery, Washington was emancipated as a boy at the end of the Civil War. He was the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, originally called the Tuskegee Normal School for Coloured Teachers, in which students were trained in industrial skills, morals, and religious life as well as in academics. Washington was the most famous African American of his time.

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