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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