The school opened on July 4, 1881, with thirty students. Washington was the only teacher. A large number of students wanted to enter, but he decided not to admit any under fifteen years of age. Some of these students were boys, and some were girls; some were grown men and women. Most of them had been teachers. None of them was very well prepared, however, for they had been very poorly taught. But the teacher found all of them eager to learn and ready to work.
Soon there were more students calling for admission. Within six weeks there were fifty students. It was necessary to have a new teacher, and the person secured for this work was Olivia Davidson, who afterwards became Booker Washington’s second wife.
She was a great help to him, and she agreed with him that they must do something for the students besides merely teaching them books. Washington says that they wanted to teach them how to be clean; how to take care of their teeth and clothing; what and how to eat; and how to make a living.
All these pupils lived on the farm, as did nearly all the people of the South. Washington wanted to so teach them that they would continue to live among their own people and their lives would be happier and better in every way. He did not want them to get a false idea about education. Many of them had the wrong impression already. They thought that getting an education consisted in reading big books and then of being able to earn a living without work. Both of these ideas were wrong. He wanted to teach them something that would make them useful and happy and prosperous on the land in their native state.
He certainly could not do this while teaching in a little old shanty with one room that was in such bad condition that one of the pupils had to hold an umbrella over the teacher when it rained. He had this same experience at his boarding house, where his landlady often held an umbrella over him while he ate his breakfast.
About three months after the opening of his school, a small farm about one mile from town was offered for sale. Washington went out and looked it over and came to the conclusion that it was just the place for the kind of school that he intended to build. But the price was $500, and he didn’t have a dollar. The owner said: “Pay me $250 cash, and I will give you one year to pay the other.” Washington borrowed $250 and closed the deal.
He decided to move the school at once to the new home. On this farm were four buildings. The “big house” had been burned, but there was left standing a little cabin, formerly used as a dining room, an old kitchen, a stable, and a henhouse. Booker Washington and his growing school moved into these four buildings.
Tuskegee’s First Group of Buildings
The buildings were thoroughly cleaned and worked over and put in as good condition as possible. Washington says, “I recall one morning, when I told an old colored man who lived near, and who sometimes helped me, that our school had grown so large that it would be necessary for us to use the henhouse for school purposes, and that I wanted him to help me give it a thorough cleaning out the next day, he replied, in a most earnest manner, ‘What do you mean, boss? You sholy ain’t going to clean out the henhouse in the daytime!’”[[11]]