Tuskegee, Alabama - Tuskegee University began as the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers. It came from an agreement between a former Confederate Colonel, W.F. Foster, and a local Black American leader, Lewis Adams.
Foster sought to keep his office, in the 1880 election. He promised Adams a school for Black Americans, if he helped him get votes.
Adams delivered. Foster kept his promise. The State of Alabama passed a law for what would become Tuskegee University.
George W. Campbell, a former slave owner, recruited Booker T. Washington as principal. Washington held that position from July 4, 1881 until he died, in 1915.
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Tuskegee, Alabama - George Washington Carver died, on this day. Carver was a Black American agricultural scientist and inventor.
Carver promoted alternative crops to cotton. His best known work was with peanuts. Carver published 105 food recipes using peanuts.
As a botanist, Carver worked on methods to prevent soil depletion.
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Washington, D. C. - A 40 year-long syphilis experiment on Black American men was exposed. The Washington Star reported the story. The United States government used Black American men as test subjects, without their consent.
600 Black American men were used. They were rural farmers. They were never told they had the disease. A cure was known, but the Federal government never treated the men.
The experiment ended only because it was exposed. No one was punished.
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