The Booker T. Washington Monument -- Tuskegee University Campus, Tuskegee AL - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

An arresting statue of Booker T. Washington, who was born a slave and died an esteemed educator, is a campus landmark and a very popular photo subject on Graduation Day 2017.

This incredibly powerful statue of Booker T. Washington "Lifting the Veil of Ignorance" from African American slaves stands in a small plaza on the Tuskegee University campus, near the chapel. It was the second most popular place to be on Graduation Day 2017, after the ceremony itself. Blasterz took over 50 photos of families and graduates here, and managed to get a couple of waymark photos for ourselves in between. (Really -- we had a line of folks asking us to take photos -- we HAPPILY obliged!)

The "Lifting the Veil" monument was dedicated in 1922 to the first principal of "The Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers," later "The Tuskegee Institute" and after 1985 known simply as Tuskegee University.

The monument is composed of two figures, both African Americans.
The figure on the left is of a formerly-enslaved man. He crouches on an anvil and near a plow, which is obscured by the cloth that had covered him. He appears nude, his modesty preserved by a drape that also serves to cover him. On his lap, he holds a book and a drawing compass tool, grasping them with great strength with his left hand. With his right hand he grasps the edge of the heavy veil that Booker T. Washington, who stands slightly behind and to the left, is pulling up, exposing the man to things he has never before been able to see or accomplish. The former slave has a resolute look on his face, as if he knows the work will be hard but he is ready for it.

The second figure of of Booker T. Washington. He lifts the veil from the former slave with his right hand. His left hand is extended out from his body, in a gesture of showing the man a better future. Washington is dressed in the period clothing of an educator: a button-up shirt, bow tie, button-up vest and a suit jacket. He wears suit pants and laced shoes.

The base is made of pale pink granite, and is carved as follows:

(Front)

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
1856 1915

He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry

(R side of plaza)

We shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify labor and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life

(L side of plaza)

And put brains and skill into the common occupations of life

(Back of monument)

This monument is erected by contributions from Negroes in the United States as a loving tribute to their great leaderf and benefactor

(R side of base)

“I will let no man drag me down so low as to make me hate him - there is no defence or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all.”

TITLE: Booker T Washington ARTIST(S): Charles Keck, Sculptor; Kunst Foundry, founder DATE: 1922 MEDIUM: Bronze sculpture on pink granite base CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 77002179 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: On campus of Tuskegee University, Tuskegee AL DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: none

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Date Logged Log   07/27/2017 Benchmark Blasterz visited it