I found that about a year previous to my going to Tuskegee some of
the coloured people who had heard something of the work of education
being done at Hampton had applied to the state Legislature, through
their representatives, for a small appropriation to be used in
starting a normal school in Tuskegee. This request the Legislature
had complied with to the extent of granting an annual appropriation of
two thousand dollars. I soon learned, however, that this money could
be used only for the payment of the salaries of the instructors, and
that there was no provision for securing land, buildings, or
apparatus. The task before me did not seem a very encouraging one.
It seemed much like making bricks without straw. The coloured people
were overjoyed, and were constantly offering their services in any way
in which they could be of assistance in getting the school started.
My first task was to find a place in which to open the school.
After looking the town over with some care, the most suitable place
that could be secured seemed to be a rather dilapidated shanty near
the coloured Methodist church, together with the church itself as a
sort of assembly-room. Both the church and the shanty were in about
as bad condition as was possible. I recall that during the first
months of school that I taught in this building it was in such poor
repair that, whenever it rained, one of the older students would very
kindly leave his lessons and hold an umbrella over me while I heard
the recitations of the others.
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