Creation Booker T. Washington was an
African American educator active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who founded the Tuskegee Institute (renamed
Tuskegee University in 1985) in
Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1881. He modeled the institute after the
Hampton Institute, a
training school in
Virginia that he had graduated from in 1875 and had been a faculty member of since 1879. He died in 1915 at the age of 59. Following Washington's death,
Robert Russa Moton, who had succeeded him as principal of the Tuskegee Institute, and
Emmett Jay Scott, who had served as Washington's personal secretary, established a memorial fund in his honor. The two hoped to raise $2 million (equivalent to $ million in ) in donations, of which $250,000 ($ million in ) would come from the African American community and the remainder from
White Americans. Scott oversaw the African American fundraising effort, while fundraising from White Americans was entrusted to William G. Willcox, who was the chairman of Tuskegee's
board of trustees. While money raised from the latter would be directed towards supporting the institute, money raised from the former would go towards the creation of a monument to Washington. Committees for the memorial fund were established in 35 states and Washington, D.C., though only $25,000 ($ in ) was raised from African American donations. However, this amount was deemed sufficient to begin creation of the monument. In total, nearly 100,000 people made donations towards the monument's creation, which would be paid for entirely by African Americans. Following the fundraising, two committees were established to oversee the monument's creation, consisting of one based in Tuskegee and another in
New York City. The Tuskegee committee was made up primarily (and possibly exclusively) of African Americans and included as members Moton, Scott,
Margaret Murray Washington (Washington's widow), and
Robert Robinson Taylor—an architect and faculty member at Tuskegee. Meanwhile, the New York committee consisted of White Americans, including sculptor
Charles Keck and several of Tuskegee's trustees, including Willcox,
Julius Rosenwald, and
William Jay Schieffelin. Taylor served as the
de facto coordinator of the project. In July 1919, Taylor traveled to New York City to review possible artists for the monument, and while he had hoped to select an African American architect or sculptor for the project, he ultimately selected Keck for the role. By the end of the month, Keck traveled to Tuskegee to show the committee there eight
maquettes he had created for the monument. The Tuskegee committee initially favored a design that consisted of a bust of Washington atop a pedestal. Within the pedestal would be a black man with an exposed torso who is surrounded by implements of mechanical arts. In one hand he holds a book, while with the other he is lifting a drape from himself, symbolizing the removal of a veil. The proposed monument was similar in design to another memorial present on the institute's campus, this one to former chairman of the board of trustees
William Henry Baldwin Jr. This monument showed Baldwin's profile at the top of a stone slab, with a shirtless African American man underneath. Ultimately, however, the Tuskegee committee selected a design similar to the one that was ultimately executed. The most notable change requested by the Tuskegee committee was Washington's apparel, which was changed from an
academic dress to a
three-piece suit. In March 1920, Keck wrote to Taylor requesting several inscriptions that should be added to the monument. This proved to be a contentious topic and led to several back-and-forth letters between the Tuskegee and New York City committees over the text and placement of the inscriptions, with the final result being a compromise between the two. Casting for the monument's statue was done by the
Roman Bronze Works, while
Palmer and Plonsky served as the project's
architectural firm and the Lloyd Brothers served as fabricators.
Dedication and later history The monument was dedicated on the campus of the institute on April 5, 1922, in a ceremony that was attended by a mixed-race crowd of several thousand African Americans and White Americans. The dedication coincided with the institution's annual Founder's Day. For the ceremony, an Honorary Unveiling Committee was created, composed of African American community leaders who had been friends of Washington's. Additionally, the
National Urban League sent representatives to the ceremony, while both the National Negro Press Association and the
National Baptist Convention held meetings at the institute to coincide with the large gathering of people. Founder's Day activities began at 2 p.m. at the institute's chapel. These events included addresses from several individuals, including
General Education Board member
Wallace Buttrick, former
United States Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, and activist
George Cleveland Hall. Several religious
folk songs and
hymns were also sung, while Bishop
Robert Elijah Jones of the
Methodist Episcopal Church said a prayer. At 3:45 p.m., the events shifted to the dedication of the monument, which began with a playing of Tuskegee's
school song. The monument was then presented by Scott and accepted on behalf of the board of trustees by Willcox. The main address was then given by Alvin J. Neely, a Tuskegee graduate from the class of 1908. Additionally, Moton read aloud a letter sent by President
Warren G. Harding commemorating the monument. The ceremony ended with a playing of "
My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and a
benediction by
Isaiah Montgomery. In 1993, the statue was surveyed as part of the
Save Outdoor Sculpture! program.—commissioned a reproduction of the statue to be installed at the high school. == Design ==