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Hello, and welcome to this day in history class, a show that believes there's no time like the present to learn about the past.

I'm Gabe Luzier, and in this episode, we're talking about the founding of an influential school,

one that marked the start of a new era for African

American education, both in Alabama and across the nation.

The day was July 4, 1881. The Tuskegee State Normal School, now Tuskegee University,

opened its doors to students for the first time. The school had been established under a

charter from the Alabama legislature and was intended to serve as a training ground for future Alabama teachers.

To fulfill that purpose, Tuskegee's program provided students with a mix of both

academic and vocational training. The patriotic date of the school's official opening

was chosen to celebrate the independence of the nation and the recent emancipation of the

African American people. According to the school's principal and lead teacher, Booker T. Washington,

30 students turned up for admission on the first day of classes, and by the end of the month,

they had been joined by 20 more. Although Tuskegee Institute was founded in the end of the month, they had been joined by 20 more.

Although Tuskegee Institute was founded in the summer of 1881, planning for the school began several years earlier. In 1879, a formerly enslaved Tinsmith and community leader named

Lewis Adams was approached by a political hopeful named W. F. Foster was a

white Southern Democrat running to keep his seat in the Alabama Senate, and he hoped that Adams would use

his influence to help him secure the black vote in Macon County. Lewis Adams agreed to help, but in exchange, he wanted Foster

...