Alamaba, Part 1

Got off the train in Birmingham, rented a car, and drove off to Montgomery.  Our first stop was the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, which includes Tuskegee University, the George W. Carver Museum, and the home of Booker T. Washington, who served as the university's president from 1881 until his death in 1915.

 We started in the Carver Museum.  George Carver was born a slave in 1864, near Diamond, Missouri.  At one week (yes, one WEEK) of age, George, his sister and his mother were kidnapped and sold in Kentucky.  The Carvers, who originally owned George's family, hired a man to located the kidnap victims, but George was the only one who could be found and returned.  George and his brother James were eventually adopted by the Carvers after slavery was abolished.  George showed an interest and aptitude for natural sciences, especially botany, and his parents encouraged his interests, sending him to school 10 miles away in Neosho.

As he grew older, George continued to seek education wherever he could find it, often doing menial labor to support himself.  He eventually gained fame as a botanist (although he also loved to paint).  In 1896, Booker T. Washington invited Carver to head the agricultural department at Tuskegee Institute.

The campus houses an entire museum dedicated to Carver's work.  His greatest interest was in teaching practical knowledge that could be used to make a living, so that people of African descent could achieve equality with their white neighbors.  Carver taught mostly farming techniques, but also experimented with weaving, pigments for paint, and processing of crops such as sweet potatoes, cotton, and, of course, the peanut.

 At left: Carver's mobile classroom.  He often loaded displays and tools into this vehicle and drove to communities to talk directly with farmers who couldn't attend his school.

 

At right: pigments of paint that Carver developed.  Some could be used to paint houses, others were for decorative work like his painting below, "The Peaches".  This is the original painting, one of the few survivors of a fire that destroyed some of his other works.  The colors have become muted due to smoke and water damage.

By the way, George Carver never actually used the middle name of "Washington" himself.  He added the W. initial while attending one of many schools, because there was another "George Carver" there.  People asked if the W. stood for Washington, and he answered, "Why not?"  He himself used only the letter.




At left is a painting of Booker T. Washington, and his home, The Oaks, was the next stop on the trip.  The house was built in 1899, and was meant at least partially as proof that African Americans could live just was well as whites.  The house had the most modern anemities Washington could find -- indoor plumbing, lighting, even a sauna.  Like many of the buildings at the Tuskegee Institute, it was built by students of bricks made on campus.  Many of the furnishings were also made by students and other local crafters.

Pictures are allowed inside as long as a flash isn't used, so I do have this photo of Washington's study.  The ornate chair was carved in China and shipped here as a gift.

Many of the furnishings are period pieces, not authentic to the house, but most of the items in the study did belong to Washington.

According to our tour guide, Washington was meticulous about details and demanding of his employees.  Often students would train with him to become housekeepers, one of the few jobs in which African American girls were accepted.  Washington insisted on a scrupulously clean house, and several fresh shirts in his office each day -- every time he began to sweat, he would change his shirt.  Of course, in Alabama, sweating is expected, especially during the summer.