In May, 1881, near the close of my first year in teaching the
night-school, in a way that I had not dared expect, the opportunity
opened for me to begin my life-work. One night in the chapel, after
the usual chapel exercises were over, General Armstrong referred to
the fact that he had received a letter from some gentlemen in Alabama
asking him to recommend some one to take charge of what was to be a
normal school for the coloured people in the little town of Tuskegee
in that state. These gentlemen seemed to take it for granted that no
coloured man suitable for the position could be secured, and they were
expecting the General to recommend a white man for the place. The
next day General Armstrong sent for me to come to his office, and,
much to my surprise, asked me if I thought I could fill the position
in Alabama. I told him that I would be willing to try. Accordingly,
he wrote to the people who had applied to him for the information,
that he did not know of any white man to suggest, but if they would be
willing to take a coloured man, he had one whom he could recommend.
In this letter he gave them my name.
Several days passed before anything more was heard about the
matter. Some time afterward, one Sunday evening during the chapel
exercises, a messenger came in and handed the general a telegram.
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