Tuskegee University history

The following year (1882), he purchased a former plantation of 100 acres in size.

The first 30 students graduated in 1885.

Following small-scale recruitments prior to the 1898–99 school year, the university quickly gained popularity among ambitious Afro-Cubans.

The first meeting of the Negro Business League was held in Boston, Massachusetts in 1901.

The Tuskegee Archives, devoted to Black history, was established in 1904.

Along with wealthy donors, he gave a lecture at Carnegie Hall in New York on January 23, 1906, called the Tuskegee Institute Silver Anniversary Lecture, in which Mark Twain spoke.

Beginning with a pilot program in 1912, Rosenwald created model rural schools and stimulated construction of new schools across the South.

Dedicated in 1922, the Booker T. Washington Monument, called "Lifting the Veil," stands at the center of campus.

The Tuskegee V.A. Hospital, opened in 1923, was the first and only staffed by Black professionals.

Tuskegee University began offering a program in management education in 1925.

Doctor Moton was succeeded in 1935 by Doctor Frederick D. Patterson.

In 1941, in an effort to train black aviators, the United States Army Air Corps established a training program at Tuskegee Institute, using Moton Field, about 4 miles (6.4 km) away from the campus center.

In 1960 he was awarded, along with the partnership of John A. Welch and Louis Fry, the commission for a new chapel, perhaps the most significant modern building constructed in Alabama.

In response to the societal changes in the mid 1960's, the University administration concluded that the ensuing years will bring increasing opportunities for African Americans trained for managerial and professional positions in business and industry. Thus, in 1962 a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration was started as part of the social science division of the School of Arts and Sciences.

Today it offers undergraduate, masters, professional, and doctoral degrees to more than 3,000 students with a strong orientation toward the relationship between education and work force preparation in the sciences, professions and technical areas. It was the first black college to be designated as a Registered National Historic Landmark (1966), and is the only black college to be designated as a National Historic Site.

With some personnel changes in 1968, the Mystics became the funk and rhythm-and-blues group the Commodores, with Richie as a lead vocalist.

During one of their performances, the group attracted the attention of an executive from Motown Record Corporation, who arranged for them to open for the American tour of pop music sensation the Jackson 5 in 1971.

In 1974, the year that Richie graduated from the Tuskegee Institute with a bachelor’s degree in economics, the Commodores signed with the Motown label.

In 1974, the year that Richie graduated from the Tuskegee Institute with a bachelor’s degree in economics, the Commodores signed with the Motown label. It was not until 1978, however, that the group recorded its first Billboard Hot 100 number one hit: “Three Times a Lady,” a sentimental ballad in waltz time.

The fifth president, Doctor Benjamin F. Payton, began his tenure in 1981.

Release of the album Lionel Richie in 1982 marked the start of Richie’s solo career.

Tuskegee acquired university status in 1985.

The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Moton Field was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

In 2000, as part of Tuskegee University's reorganization, the Department of Computer Science was moved from the College of Engineering to the business program, and the unit was named the College of Business and Information Science.

On August 1, 2010, Doctor Charlotte P. Morris assumed the role of Interim President of the University.

In 2012 Richie strode back into the spotlight with Tuskegee, a collection of his greatest hits recast as country duets and performed with Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Willie Nelson, and other luminaries of country music.

Beginning July 1, 2018, she became the first female president of the institution in its 136-year history.

In July 2020, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $20 million to the university.

The Tuskegee University Board of Trustees proudly made the announcement that interim President Doctor Charlotte P. Morris was elected the ninth president of Tuskegee University, effective August 1, 2021.