Early Days at Tuskegee Summary and Analysis

In June of 1881, Washington is hired to oversee a "normal school" in Tuskegee. He arrives to find no accommodations but plenty of anxious students. He travels the country, dropping in unannounced to visit with families of the area. He notes that the people are poor but tend toward something of excess. For example, a family with only a single fork in their possession is making payments on a sixty-dollar organ that is seldom played. Others have elaborate clocks that seldom work correctly or sewing machines that are seldom used.

Washington also notes that the major foods are corn bread, peas and pork fat. Though families have the land available to grow vegetables, they plant only cotton, often to the front door of the cabin. They typically sleep in a single room and Washington says they...