Tuskegee

Washington Whose patience, fidelity, and hard work have gone far to make the work at Tuskegee successful.

The greater part of my time and strength is required for the executive work connected with the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, and in securing the money necessary for the support of the institution.

I had never seen him, and I knew little about him, except that he was the head of a school at Tuskegee, Alabama.

The first time that I went to Tuskegee I was asked to make an address to the school on Sunday evening.

But Tuskegee is, nevertheless, a brand-new chapter in the history of the Negro, and in the history of the knottiest problem we have ever faced.

Washington's success is, then, not his teaching the pupils of Tuskegee, nor even gaining the support of philanthropic persons at a distance, but this--that every Southern white man of character and of wisdom has been won to a cordial recognition of the value of the work, even men who held and still hold to the conviction that a mere book education for the Southern blacks under present conditions is a positive evil.

"I do not know which to put first, the effect of Tuskegee's work on the Negro, or the effect on the attitude of the white man to the Negro."

As we thought about how to recognize and honor the accomplishments of African Americans during Black History month, we decided to focus on one of our most successful World War II units, the Tuskegee Airmen.