The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-30
END OF ITS 2lST YEAR
tcoMMENCEMENT OF TUSKEGEE
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
something of the History of Booker.
=. Washington's Famous In
stitute-English Committee
Studying the Methods

IL Iuskegee, May 2o.--tSpccial. To-day
1fS1osed the ,twenty-first year of the work
e 81 this school. 1t is difficult to compre-
<nend the extent of its influence COM
III mittee from the London School Board,
'HweTe here yesterday and are here today
Dluuytng the schools methods with "A
view to their Introduction in the work of
the British colonies. Twenty-onc years
4ago had one teacher and thirty pupils.
With. no grounds or buildings. The
XEraduates now number 46l. while Ii has
HEfvcn more or less instruction to over
1000 others. They are in every Southern
land many of the Northern States and in
81 almost every instance, carrying out the
ATuskegee idea of home getting tax pay
.Sfng and materially helpful citizenship
HIhe first class went out in 1885, One of
~ This class founded school If which
4 Ehe has been the head for fourteen years.
This school has sent out sixty graduates.
many OF whom have also graduated at
u Tuskegee and are now successful trades
men. business men. farmers and teachers.
One who graduated in 1892 founded "a
Echool In Wilcox County. Ala, on PLAN
*:tation where he was born. which now has
van attendance, each year of 800 students,
with property of over $4,000 Last
year twenty-five teachers and superin-
1endents We're employed. They carried
440fk* ny StuueUL fhDof, n IdTIn, SdWfntit,
brick yard, wheclwright and blacksmith
shop. printing Office, carpenter and paint
4shop, laundry, cooking school and sew
ling rooms. Nearly all these teachers
,were Tuskegee graduates. The school
2has sent out seventeen graduates and
&everv ere of them is honorably employed
sfn developing the best interest of Wilcox
fsCounty. The number of these schools,
with Tuskegee graduates at the head of
e thirtaep nf hax
were founded by them. They are in eight
% fferent States. eight in alabama, ono in
r FLORIDA. two in Georgia one in South
XEar0lina. two in Louisiana, one in Vir-
Il ginia, one in Tennessee and ono in Kan
Asass Various graduates have their eye
on other States and 1t will not be long
before there will not be single Southern
State that has not a real Tuskegee
school
The enrolment. this year. has reached
l.s9o in the Normal department. $50 young
men,. 40 young women. OF these. SCI
have worked all the year, during the day.
and gone to school at night. Nearly all
the others were once night students, but
had been able to enter the day school
because of an amount to their credit in
I the treasury, by reason of their labor,
while working during the day and going
to school at night. These normal students
represent thirty different States and ter
s:ritories and five foreign countries. Ala
hama furnished 452. Georgia. 1877; Mssis-
sippi ITO; South Carolina, SO; Texas. 81;
Louisiana, rs; Florida, IS; the West
Indies. 46; Africa. 2. Besides these the
III kindergarten and training school enroll
ksed "a. the Tuskegee town night school,
III, making a total enrolment. for the
year of Las. The social settlement school,
con the Thompson plantation, supervised
& by Mrs. Washington and taught by a
rfs..
Der up to 1900. 1t has required lbs officers
~ and teachers to carry on this work. The
iii children. IN the training school. have
Il been. taught carpentry, cooking, sewing
n and gardening. At their closing exercises
II eleven of them were promoted TO the
Norf1al school Tho closing exercises of
the 4Tuskegee town night school were held
Ain the Opera House and very largely at
tended. Many of the students are
ried people. often the husband and wife
Il coming to school together. others are the
sHyoung men and women of the town, who
N are unable to go to school during the
das.~ They have been taught bricklay-
ing, carpentry. sewing, cooking and
housekeeping. Some who are employed
as servants and unable to come at night
form an afternoon class and receive in
4struetion at such hours their services
+ are not needed. All of this town work
1 and the social settlement work is really
Stfe outcome of Mrs. Washington's efforts
4begun on a small scale some years ago,
b for the women and girls. who were ac-
customed to lounge about the streets of
fHsffgee on Saturdays. The changes in
the city of Tuskegee are simply remar
ksble. The number of new and COM
Efortable homes, built by colored people in
Z the Immediate vicinity of Tuskegee and
ia. the city itself. is very large. Through
the personal efforts of Mr.. Washington
and the Normal school new and COM
Portable city school house has been built,
for The colored people. This building
has five rooms in it. a chapel, industrial
s-room for boys, sewing and cooking room
for girls and two recitation rooms. 1t
has two acres of land which are in crops
cultivated by the students 1t runs
eight months. The school also maintains
Is a free library and reading ROOM for the
people of Tuskcgee.
Eleven annual sessions Of the Tusl.egee
Negro Conference have been held. Though
the work of the hundreds of .ocal confer
ences and the conference agents. in IN ny
OF the States the work of tho conference
has become almost as continuous as that
or the school itself. The conferc nee is
always in session somewhere The
work Is constantly spreading. This year
a Bureau of Nature Study has been
organized and. from it, frequent hullc-
tins. on all sorts of practical subjects.
pertaining to nature and tho farm, are
eent out. The list now numbers nearly
1000 interested readers. A striking owl
dance of the growth. in influence. of the
school is the presence this year Of sixteen
graduates of this and other schools TAX