Summary Chapter Seven, Early Days at Tuskegee

In May 1881, General Armstrong told Washington he had received a letter from a
man in Alabama to recommend someone to take charge of a colored school in
Tuskegee. The man writing the letter thought that there was not a colored person to
fill the role and asked him to recommend a white man. The general wrote back and to
tell him about Washington, and he was accepted for the position.

Washington went there and describes Tuskegee as a town of 2,000 population and as
being in the Black Belt of the South, where nearly half of the residents were colored
and in other parts of nearby counties there were six African American people to one
white person. He explains that he thinks the term Black Belt originated from the
rich, dark soil of the area, which was also the part of the South where slaves were
most profitable.

Once at Tuskegee, his first task was to find a place to open the school and secured a
rundown shanty and African-American Methodist church.

He also travelled around the area and acquainted himself with the local people. He
describes some of the families he met and who worked in the cotton fields. He saw
that most of the farmers were in debt and schools were generally taught in churches
or log cabins and these had few or no provisions. Some, for example, had no means
of heating in the winter and one school had one book to share between five children.

He goes on to relate the story of a man aged around 60. He told Washington he had
been sold in 1845 and there had been five of them: There were five of us; myself and
brother and three mules. Washington explains he is referring to these experiences to
highlight how improvements were later made.

Analysis Chapter Seven, Early Days at Tuskegee
Washingtons first days at Tuskegee are described in this chapter, as is his method of
working. He demonstrates a holistic approach to his teaching in that he researched
the area and the people and how poverty stricken many were. His visits also showed
how education was both a premium and underfunded, and therefore justifies the
setting up of this new facility.

Tuskegee is also seen to be set in a rural area, where agriculture was the main form of
employment, and so the Institutes later incarnation as an industrial school that was
fit for teaching its students skills for the locale is justified.


































Summary Chapter Eight, Teaching School in a Stable and a Hen-
House
He encountered difficulties in setting up the school, which he opened on July
4
th
1881, and this included some opposition from white people who questioned the
value of educating African Americans: These people feared the result of education
would be that the Negroes would leave the farms, and that it would be difficult to
secure them for domestic service.

He describes how he has depended on the advice of two men in particular and these
were the ones who wrote to General Armstrong asking for a teacher. One is a white
man and a former slave holder called George W. Campbell. The other is a black man
and a former slave called Lewis Adams.

When the school opened they had 30 students and these were divided roughly
equally between the sexes. Many more had wanted to come, but it had been decided
that they must be over 15 and have had some education already. Many who came
were public school teachers and some were around 40 years of age. The number of
pupils increased each week and there were nearly 50 by the end of the first month.

A co-teacher came at the end of the first 6 weeks. This was Olivia A. Davidson and
she later became his wife. She had been taught in Ohio and came South as she had
heard of the need for teachers. She is described as brave in the way she nursed the
sick when others would not (such as caring for a boy with small pox). She also
trained further at Hampton and then at Massachusetts State Normal School at
Framingham.

She and Washington agreed that the students needed more than a book education
and they thought they must show them how to care for their bodies and how to earn
a living after they had left the school. They tried to educate them in a way that would
make them want to stay in these agricultural districts (rather than leave for the city
and be forced to live by their wits). Many of the students came initially to study so
that they would not have to work with their hands, whereas Washington aimed for
them to be capable of all sorts of labor and to not be ashamed of it.

Some 3 months after the school opened an abandoned plantation came on the
market. The owner agreed to take half the price, some 250 dollars, and the rest of it
within the year. Washington wrote to General J.F.B. Marshall, Treasurer of the
Hampton Institute, to ask if he would lend them 250 dollars. He replied that he could
not lend the Institutes money, but was glad to lend it from his own funds.

They moved the school to the farm and he and the students prepared it. He led the
way with manual work to show them that such labor did not lessen their dignity.
Miss Davidson made preparations to pay back the loan and held festivals and
canvassed people for items of food that could be sold. White and African-American
people donated readily.

Analysis Chapter Eight, Teaching School in a Stable and a Hen-House
The setting up of Tuskegee is described in further detail here as Washington outlines
how he and his co-teacher responded to the employment available in the area and to
the needs of the students once they had completed their studies.

By pushing for this type of industrial education, which is practical rather than solely
book based, Washington made a decision based on pragmatism rather than
aspirations. He defends this type of education for his students as being of use
because it meant the students were more likely to stay in the area than migrate to
cities and were also more likely to find employment.

As practical as this outlook is, it is possible to see why detractors have found fault as
Washington could be seen offer his students little in the way of aspirations that
middle-class white students would have had and still have.