Tuskegee University

Former names	Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers (1881–1891) Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (1891–1937) Tuskegee Institute (1937–1985)[1]
Motto	Scientia Principatus Opera
Motto in English	Knowledge, Leadership, Service
Type	Privatehistorically blackland-grant university
Established	July 4, 1881; 144 years ago (1881-07-04)
Accreditation	SACS
Academic affiliations	NAICU[2] ORAU UNCF Space-grant
Endowment	$157 million (2021)[3]
President	Mark Brown
Academic staff	263 full-time and 45 part-time (spring 2022)[4]
Students	2,570 (fall 2022)[5]
Undergraduates	2,100 (fall 2022)[5]
Postgraduates	215 (fall 2022)[5]
Location	Tuskegee , Alabama , United States 32°25′48.76″N85°42′27.81″W / 32.4302111°N 85.7077250°W /32.4302111; -85.7077250
Campus	Rural, 5,200 acres (2,100 ha)
Newspaper	The TU Campus Digest[6]
Colors	Crimson and old gold[7]
Nickname	Golden Tigers
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division II –SIAC
Website	tuskegee.edu

Tuskegee University (Tuskegee orTU; formerly known as theTuskegee Institute) is aprivate,historically blackland-grant university inTuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was founded as anormal school for teachers onJuly 4, 1881, by theAlabama Legislature. In 1932 Tuskegee was involved, in collaboration with theUnited States Public Health Service, in recruiting participants for aninfamous syphilis study.^[8]

Tuskegee University offers 43bachelor's degree programs, including a five-year accredited professional degree program inarchitecture, 17master's degree programs, and 5doctoral degree programs, including theDoctor of Veterinary Medicine. Tuskegee is home to nearly 3,000 students from around the U.S. and over 30 countries.

Tuskegee's campus was designed by architectRobert Robinson Taylor, the first African-American to graduate from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, in conjunction withDavid Williston, the first professionally trained African-American landscape architect.^[9] The campus was designated as the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site by theNational Park Service in 1974. The university has been home to a number of importantAfrican American figures, including founder and first principal/presidentBooker T. Washington, scientistGeorge Washington Carver, andWorld War II'sTuskegee Airmen.

The school was founded on July 4, 1881, as the TuskegeeNormal School for Colored Teachers. This was a result of an agreement made during the 1880 elections inMacon County, Alabama, between a former Confederate Colonel,Wilbur F. Foster, who was a candidate for re-election to the Alabama Senate, and a local black leader,Lewis Adams.^[10][11] Wilbur Foster offered that, if Adams could persuade the black constituents to vote for Foster, then Foster, if elected, would push the state of Alabama to establish a school for black people in the county. The majority of Macon County's population was black, so black constituents had political power. Adams succeeded and Foster followed through with the school.^[12]

The school became a part of the expansion of higher education forblack people in the formerConfederate states following theAmerican Civil War, with many schools founded by the northernAmerican Missionary Association. A teachers' school was the dream of Lewis Adams, a former slave, and George W. Campbell, a banker, merchant, and former slaveholder, who shared a commitment to the education of black people. Despite lacking formal education, Adams could read, write, and speak several languages. He was an experiencedtinsmith, harness-maker, andshoemaker and was aPrince Hall Freemason, an acknowledged leader of theAfrican-American community in Macon County.

Adams and Campbell had secured $2,000 from the State of Alabama for teachers' salaries but nothing for land, buildings, or equipment. Adams, Campbell (replacing Thomas Dryer, who died after his appointment), and M. B. Swanson formed Tuskegee's first board of commissioners. Campbell wrote to theHampton Institute inVirginia, requesting the recommendation of a teacher for their new school.Samuel C. Armstrong, the Hamptonprincipal and a formerUnion general, recommended 25-year-oldBooker T. Washington, an alumnus and teacher at Hampton.

As the newly hiredprincipal in Tuskegee, Booker T. Washington began classes for his new school in a rundown church and shanty. The following year (1882), he purchased a formerplantation of 100 acres in size. In 1973 the Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, did an oral history interview with Annie Lou "Bama" Miller. In that interview she indicated that her grandmother sold the original 100 acres of land to Booker T. Washington. That oral history interview is located at the Tuskegee University archives. The earliest campus buildings were constructed on that property, usually by students as part of their work-study. By the start of the 20th century, the Tuskegee Institute occupied nearly 2,300 acres.^[13]

Based on his experience at the Hampton Institute, Washington intended to train students in skills, morals, and religious life, in addition to academic subjects. Washington urged the teachers he trained "to return to the plantation districts and show the people there how to put new energy and new ideas into farming as well as into the intellectual and moral and religious life of the people."^[14] Washington's second wifeOlivia A. Davidson, was instrumental to Tuskegee's success. As assistant principal, she worked with Washington to raise funds from donors in Massachusetts, and within a few months, they had raised enough to purchase a farm and construct a large school building.^[15][16]

Gradually, a rural extension program was developed, to take progressive ideas and training to those who could not come to the campus. Tuskegee alumni founded smaller schools and colleges throughout theSouth; they continued to emphasize teacher training.

As a young free man after the Civil War, Washington sought a formal education. He worked his way through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) and attended college atWayland Seminary in Washington, DC (now Virginia Union University). He returned to Hampton as a teacher.

Hired as principal of the newnormal school (for the training of teachers) in Tuskegee, Alabama, Booker T. Washington opened his school on July 4, 1881, on the grounds of theButler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. In the following year he bought the grounds of a formerplantation, out of which he expanded the institute in the decades that followed.

The school expressed Washington's dedication to the pursuit of self-reliance. In addition to training teachers, he also taught the practical skills needed for his students to succeed at farming or other trades typical of the rural South, where most of them came from. He wanted his students to see labor as practical, but also as beautiful and dignified. As part of their work-study programs, students constructed most of the new buildings. Many students earned all or part of their expenses through the construction, agricultural, and domestic work associated with the campus, as they reared livestock and raised crops, as well as producing other goods.

The continuing expansion of black education took place against a background of increased violence against blacks in the South, afterDemocrats regained power in state governments and imposed white supremacy in society. They instituted legalracial segregation and a variety ofJim Crow laws, afterdisfranchising most blacks by constitutional amendments and electoral rules from 1890 until 1964. Against this background, Washington's vision, as expressed in his "Atlanta Compromise" speech, became controversial and was challenged by new leaders, such asW.E.B. Du Bois, who argued that blacks should have opportunities for study inclassical academic programs, as well as vocational institutes. In the early twentieth century, Du Bois envisioned the rise of "the Talented Tenth" to lead African Americans.

Washington gradually attracted notable scholars to Tuskegee, including the botanistGeorge Washington Carver, one of the university's most renowned professors.

Perceived as a spokesman for black "industrial" education, Washington developed a network of wealthy Americanphilanthropists who donated to the school, such asAndrew Carnegie (funding a library building),Collis P. Huntington,John D. Rockefeller,Henry Huttleston Rogers,George Eastman, andElizabeth Milbank Anderson. An early champion of the concept ofmatching funds, Henry H. Rogers was a major anonymous contributor to Tuskegee and dozens of other black schools for more than fifteen years. There is some discussion as to whether his strong support for "industrial" education was fully earnest or at least partly a strategy to attract such large donors, as he thought the idea of an "industrial" college would appeal to them. Publication of the article "Industrial Education of the Negro" in a leading magazine designed for African-American readers is one piece of evidence against this claim.^[17]

Thanks to recruitment efforts on the island and contacts with the U.S. military, Tuskegee had a particularly large population ofAfro-Cuban students during these years. Following small-scale recruitments prior to the 1898–99 school year, the university quickly gained popularity among ambitious Afro-Cubans. In the first three decades of the school's existence, dozens of Afro-Cubans enrolled at Tuskegee each year, becoming the largest population of foreign students at the school.^[18]

Washington developed a major relationship withJulius Rosenwald, aself-made man who rose to the top ofSears, Roebuck and Company in Chicago,Illinois. He had long been concerned about the lack of educational resources for blacks, especially in the South. After meeting with Washington, Rosenwald agreed to serve on Tuskegee's board of directors. He also worked with Washington to stimulate funding to train teachers' schools such as Tuskegee and Hampton institutes.

Washington was a tireless fundraiser for the institute. In 1905 he kicked off an endowment campaign, raising money all over America in 1906 for the 25th anniversary of the institution. Along with wealthy donors, he gave a lecture atCarnegie Hall in New York on January 23, 1906, called theTuskegee 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. Tuskegee architects developed the model plans, and some students helped build the schools. Rosenwald created a fund but required communities to raise matching funds, to encourage local collaboration between blacks and whites. Rosenwald and Washington stimulated the construction and operation of more than 5,000 small community schools and supporting resources for the education of blacks throughout the ruralthe South into the 1930s.

Despite his travels and widespread work, Washington continued as principal of Tuskegee. Concerned about the educator's health, Rosenwald encouraged him to slow his pace. In 1915, Washington died at the age of 59, as a result ofhigh blood pressure.^[19] At his death, Tuskegee's endowment exceeded US$1.5 million. He was buried on the campus near the chapel.

Tuskegee campus, 1916

Tuskegee, in cooperation with church missionary activity, worked to set up industrial training programs in Africa.^[20]

After Washington's death, he was succeeded as principal byRobert Russa Moton for the next 20 years.^[21]

The years after World War I challenged the basis of the Tuskegee Institute. Teaching was still seen as a critical calling, but southern society was changing rapidly. Attracted by the growth of industrial jobs in the North, including the rapid expansion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, suffering job losses because of theboll weevil and increasing mechanization of agriculture, and fleeing extra-legal violence, hundreds of thousands of rural blacks moved from the South to Northern and Midwestern industrial cities in theGreat Migration. A total of 1.5 million moved during this period. In the South, industrialization was occurring in cities such asBirmingham, Alabama and other booming areas. The programs at Tuskegee, based on an agricultural economy, had to change. During and afterWorld War II, migration to the North continued, with California added as a destination because of its defense industries. A total of 5 million black Southerners moved out of the South from 1940 to 1970.

Tuskegee Institute had become a center for medical excellence, with the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital (the first full service hospital in the nation developed and operated by African Americans) and the Tuskegee Veterans Hospital (the only ever U.S. African American staffed Veterans Administration hospital). This medical center had more medical professionals than any other medical facility of its size in the U.S. Because of Booker T. Washington's community outreach, with National Health Week, and the success of these facilities, trust in modern medicine and African American medical professionals, like the National Medical Association, African American families had full trust in science and medicine, which began extending the lives in the African American community. However, in the middle of this progress, from 1932 to 1972, the United States government, through the United States Public Health Service, conducted theUSPHS syphilis experiment by which the effects of deliberately untreatedsyphilis were studied, in Macon County, Alabama, with African-American men, living in remote rural communities near Tuskegee, Alabama. These experiments have become infamous for deceiving study participants, poor African-American men, both by not telling them that they had latent syphilis and by pretending to give them medical care; in fact researchers were only monitoring the progression of the disease, so that when the men were deceased their bodies could be studied in the laboratory. Syphilis is a debilitating disease that can leave its victims with permanent neurological damage and horrifying scars. Penicillin was discovered in 1927 and it was being used to treat human disease by the early 1940s. In 1947 it had become the gold standard in treating syphilis and often only required one intramuscular dose to eliminate the disease. The researchers were well aware of this information and in order to continue their experiments, they chose to withhold the life-saving treatment. The researchers proceeded to actively deter study participants from obtaining penicillin from other physicians. The patients were told that they had "bad blood". This experiment was conducted by theU.S. Public Health Service. This was a direct violation of theHippocratic Oath; however, not a single researcher was legally punished. Academic research has shown that the study had long-term, damaging effects on black men's health, and the health of their families and contributed to mistrust of white medical professionals among black men.^[22][23]

In 1941, in an effort to train blackaviators, theU.S. Army Air Corps established a training program at Tuskegee Institute, usingMoton Field, about 4 miles (6.4 km) away from the campus center. The graduates became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. TheTuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Moton Field was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1998. The U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy haveR.O.T.C. programs on campus today.

Numerous presidents have visited Tuskegee, includingFranklin D. Roosevelt.Eleanor Roosevelt was also interested in the Institute and its aeronautical school. In 1941 she visited Tuskegee Army Air Field and worked to have African Americans get the chance as pilots in the military. She corresponded with F.D. Patterson, the third president of the Tuskegee Institute, and frequently lent her support to programs.^[24]

The noted architectPaul Rudolph was commissioned in 1958 to produce a new campus master plan. 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.

The postwar decades were a time of continued expansion for Tuskegee, which added new programs and departments, adding graduate programs in several fields to reflect the rise of professional studies. For example, its School of Veterinary Medicine was added in 1944. Mechanical Engineering was added in 1953, and a four-year program in Architecture in 1957, with a six-year program in 1965.

During the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, students at Tuskegee Institute formed the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League (TIAL) to lead civil rights activities on campus. Although TIAL was an affiliate of theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), its leaders were local Tuskegee Institute students.^[25][26] TIAL led sit-ins at the state capital, wade-ins (to desegregate city pools), voter registration efforts and education in rural areas and protest marches including a Tuskegee to Montgomery contingent of the Selma to Montgomery March on March 21, 1965.^[26] Student activist,Samuel (Sammy) Younge, Jr. was one of TIAL's leaders, and the first Black college student to die in the Civil Rights Movement.^[25] His murder by a white gas station attendant, Marvin Segrest, and Segrest's subsequent acquittal by an all-white jury galvanized thousands to march on the city of Tuskegee in protest.^[25]

In 1968, student activists seeking more say over their education engaged in a series of protests, sit-ins, walk-outs and other demonstrations at Tuskegee Institute in an effort to get the administration to hear and act upon their demands regarding the quality of life on campus, the quality of the education they received, mandatoryReserve Officer's Training Corps (ROTC) participation, and other grievances.^[27] These protests culminated with around 300 students surrounding Dorothy Hall during a meeting of Tuskegee Institute's board of trustees on April 6, 1968 and effectively holding them hostage inside. The governor sent the National Guard to respond to the incident. Immediately afterward, campus was closed down, and all students had to reapply for admission.^[27][28] While initially met with harsh repercussions from the administration, the student activists were ultimately successful in prompting the administration to meet their demands.^[27]

In 1985, Tuskegee Institute achieved university status and was renamed Tuskegee University.^[10]

In July 2020, philanthropistMacKenzie Scott donated $20 million to Tuskegee. Her donation is the largest single gift in Tuskegee's history from a known donor.^[29]

In 2023, Tuskegee received funding from theNational Trust for Historic Preservation to develop plans for safeguarding the school's historic buildings against climate change.^[30]

In April 2024, Tuskegee received a $20 million gift from an anonymous donor. The major gift will go towards supporting Tuskegee'sSTEM programs and a variety of campus improvements.^[31] The following month, Mark Brown became the first Tuskegee graduate (Class of 1986) to be appointed president of the institution.^[32]

Later that same year, on November 10, 2024, LaTavion Jashun Johnson, a visiting 18-year-old high school male, was killed and 16 other people were injured in amass shooting on campus during homecoming weekend by a lone gunman. The gunman was later identified as 25-year-old Jaquez Myrick; he was not a Tuskegee student and traveled fromMontgomery, Alabama.^[33] As a result of the mass shooting, Tuskegee decided to end its open campus policy.^[34]

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Show map of Alabama Show map of the United States
Nearest city	Tuskegee, Alabama
Coordinates	32°25′49″N85°42′28″W / 32.43028°N 85.70778°W /32.43028; -85.70778
Area	57.92 acres (0.2344 km2)[35]
Built	1882
Architect	Robert Robinson Taylor
Architectural style	Greek Revival, Queen Anne
Website	Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site
NRHP reference No.	66000151
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966[36]
Designated NHL	June 23, 1965[37]

In 1965 Tuskegee University was declared aNational Historic Landmark for the significance of its academic programs, its role in higher education for African-Americans, and its status in United States history.^[37] Congress authorized the establishment of the Tuskegee InstituteNational Historic Site in 1974.

The National Historic Site includes Booker T. Washington's home The Oaks and the George Washington Carver Museum. The district historic landmark district includes the entire Tuskegee University campus at the time.^[38]"Points of special historic interest" noted in the landmark description include:

• The Oaks (Washington's Home)
• Booker T. Washington monument,Lifting the Veil of Ignorance statue byCharles Keck
• Grave of Booker T. Washington
• Grave ofGeorge Washington Carver
• The George Washington Carver Museum

TheTuskegee Airmen National Historic Site is at Moton Field, in Tuskegee, Alabama.^[39]

Tuskegee has had 10 presidents and 2 interim presidents since its founding in 1881. Matthew Jenkins was the only interim president to not later become a president.^[40]

1. Booker T. Washington (1881-1915), the founding president
2. Robert Russa Moton (1915-1935), help established theTuskegee Veterans’ Administration Hospital
3. Frederick Douglass Patterson (1935-1953), created the first veterinary medicine program atHistorically Black Collegeand University
4. Luther Hilton Foster Jr. (1953-1981)
5. Benjamin Franklin Payton (1981-2010)
6. Gilbert L. Rochon (2010-2013)
7. Brian L. Johnson (2014-2017)
8. Lily D. McNair (2018-2021), the first female president
9. Charlotte P. Morris (2021-2024), (2010, 2017-2018)
10. Mark A. Brown (2024-present), the first alum to be president

Tuskegee University provides Campus Police protection for its students and staff, on and off-campus, which is on-call 24-hours.^[42] All officers are state certified.^[9]

• 
  TheLifting the Veil of Ignorance statue of Booker T. Washington was designed by sculptorCharles Keck and unveiled on April 5, 1922. The statue depicts Dr. Washington lifting the veil of ignorance off his people, who had once been enslaved, by showing them the ways of a better life through education and skills.
• 
  James Henry Meriwether Henderson Hall is Tuskegee University's new Agricultural Life Science Teaching, Extension and Research Building. Henderson Hall provides labs for teaching introductory courses in animal, plant, soil, and environmental sciences as well as biology and chemistry.
• 
  Built in 1906 and completely renovated in 2013, Tompkins Hall serves as the primary student dining facility and student center. The building includes a ballroom, an auditorium, a game room, a retail restaurant, and a 24-hour student study with healthy food vending machines. It is home to the offices of the Student Government Association.
• 
  The Legacy Museum houses: The African collection (contains approximately 900 items), the antiques and miscellaneous items collection and The Lovette W. Harper Collection of African Art. Third Floor exhibition contains "The United States Public Health Service Untreated Syphilis Study in the Negro Male, Macon County, Alabama 1932-1972."^[43]
• 
  Booker T. Washington is laid to rest in the Tuskegee University Campus Cemetery. Many other notable university people are interred on the Tuskegee campus including: George Washington Carver, Cleveland L. Abbott, William L. Dawson, Luther Hilton Foster (4th president), Frederick D. Patterson (3rd president), many other Washington family members and others.
• 
  Tuskegee University provides on-campus apartment style living for students in the Commons Apartments located across the campus in three different locations
• 
  Margaret Murray Washington Hall is home to Office of Admission, University Bookstore and additional dining services for the students
• 
  "The Avenue" is one of the main pedestrian corridors on campus that is rarely open to vehicular traffic
• 
  Booker T. Washington Boulevard is the main drive into the campus of Tuskegee University
• 
  Tuskegee University's campus has a park like setting and features many large green areas
• 
  College of Veterinary Medicine Williams Bowie Hall
• 
  Tuskegee football game
• 
  Main entrance to the campus
• 
  A scenic campus corridor
• 
  Interior view of the Tuskegee Chapel
• 
  Fall at Tuskegee University
• 
  George Washington Carver Museum
• 
  The Main Library, Hollis Burke Frissell now known as the Ford Motor Company Library/Learning Resource Center
• 
  Campus banners
• 
  Andrew F. Brimmer College of Business and Information Sciences
• 
  Daniel "Chappie" James Center
• 
  Daniel "Chappie" James Center -Tuskegee basketball pre-game warm-up
• 
  Daniel "Chappie" James Center basketball game
• 
  Tuskegee University campus partial view of the "Valley" and the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center
• 
  I-85 exit for Tuskegee University

The Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center at the renovated Dorothy Hall (built 1901) was established in 1994 on the campus of Tuskegee University by theW.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Kellogg Conference Center offers multimedia meeting rooms, as well as a 300-seat auditorium and a ballroom that accommodates up to 350 guests. Students studyingHospitality Management within theAndrew F. Brimmer College of Business and Information Science &Dietetics students within the Department of Food and Nutrition Science are able to receive hands on experience at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center. The Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center is the only center at a historically black university; there are only 11 worldwide. Other Kellogg Conference Centers in the United States are located at:Michigan State University,Gallaudet University and theCalifornia State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona).^{[citation needed]}

The academic programs are organized into five colleges and two schools: (1) The College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences; (2) The College of Arts and Sciences; (3) The Brimmer College of Business and Information Science; (4) The College of Engineering; (5) The College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health; (6), The Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science; and (7) The School of Education.

Tuskegee houses an undergraduatehonors program for qualified rising sophomores with at least a cumulative 3.2 GPA.^[45]

Tuskegee University is accredited by theSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award Baccalaureate, Master's, Doctorate, and professional degrees. The following academic programs are accredited by national agencies: Architecture, Business, Education, Engineering, Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, and Veterinary Medicine.

Tuskegee University is the only Historically Black University to offer theDoctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.); its School of Veterinary Medicine was established in 1944. The school is fully accredited by the Council on Education of theAmerican Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). About 75% of the nation's African-American veterinarians graduated from Tuskegee's program.^[46][47]

Tuskegee University offers several engineering degree programs all withABET accreditation. The Aerospace Science Engineering department was established in 1983. Tuskegee University is the first and onlyHistorically Black University to offer an accredited B.S. degree inAerospace Engineering. The Mechanical Engineering Department was established in 1954 and the Chemical Engineering Department began in 1977; The Department of Electrical Engineering is the largest of five departments within the College of Engineering. The program is accredited by EAC/ABET (Engineering Accreditation Commission/Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology) and theSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools.

The Tuskegee UniversityAndrew F. Brimmer College of Business and Information Science is fully accredited by theAssociation to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB-International).

The school of Nursing was established as the Tuskegee Institute Training School of Nurses and registered with the Alabama State board of Nursing, September 1892 under the auspices of theJohn A. Andrew Memorial Hospital. In 1948 the university began its baccalaureate program in Nursing; becoming the first nursing program in the state of Alabama. The Nursing department holds full accreditation from theNational League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and is approved by the Alabama State Board of Nursing.

TheOccupational Therapy program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of theAmerican Occupational Therapy Association. The Clinical Laboratory Science Program is accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences. (NAACLS)

Tuskegee University began offering certificates inArchitecture under the Division of Mechanical Industries in 1893. The 4-year curriculum in architecture leading to the Bachelor of Science degree was initiated in 1957 and the professional 6-year program in 1965. The Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture offers two professional programs: Architecture, and Construction Science and Management. The 5-year Bachelor of Architecture program is fully accredited by theNational Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). Graduates of the program are qualified to become registered architects.

In 2019, Tuskegee signed a partnership with theRoss University School of Medicine to help redress diversity shortages in the medical field. Qualified Tuskegee students will automatically gain admissions into the medical school with a tuition-free first semester.^[48]

In 2020, Tuskegee established a strategic partnership with theCumberland School of Law that will allow Tuskegee students to receive a bachelor's degree andJuris Doctor degree in six years as opposed to the traditional seven.^[49][50]

U.S. News & World Report places Tuskegee 3rd out of 79 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in their 2022 rankings.^[51]U.S. News & World Report also rated Tuskegee 20th "Best Regional College in the South" for 2021 out of 134 schools evaluated.^[52] Tuskegee is ranked 109th among 614 master's universities (which award a significant number of master's degrees but few or no doctoral degrees) in the U.S. according to theWashington Monthly 2020 rankings, which rate schools' contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.^[53]

National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care is the nation's firstbioethics center devoted to engaging the sciences, humanities, law and religious faiths in the exploration of the core moral issues which underlie research and medical treatment of African Americans and other under-served people. The official launching of the Center took place two years after PresidentBill Clinton's apology to the nation, the survivors of theSyphilis Study, Tuskegee University, and Tuskegee/Macon County, Alabama for the U.S. Public Health Service medical experiment (1932–1972), where 399 poor—and mostly illiterate—African American sharecroppers became part of a study on non-treating and natural history of syphilis.^[54] The center houses the Bioethics Honors Program available to undergraduate students interested in bioethics.^[55]

Tuskegee is a member of theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Division II and competes within theSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). The university has a total of 10 varsity sports teams, five men's teams called the "Golden Tigers", and five women's teams called the "Tigerettes".

Tuskegee's Men's Basketball won the 2014 SIAC Championship and the 2014 NCAA Division South Region Championship. The Golden Tigers also made it to the Elite Eight during the2014 NCAA Men's Division II basketball tournament. Tuskegee's Women's Softball won the 2014 SIAC Championship.

The Tuskegee Department of Athletics sponsors the following sports:

The Tuskegee University football team has won 29 SIAC championships (the most in SIAC history). As of 2013 the Golden Tigers continue to be the most successful HBCU with 652 wins.

In 2013 Tuskegee opted not to renew its contract to face rivalAlabama State University (Division I FCS) in theTurkey Day Classic, the oldest black college football classic in the country. Instead, after going 10–2 the Golden Tigers made their first playoff appearance in school history for the 2013 NCAA Division II Football Championship, for which they had qualified in the past but could not participate due to the Turkey Day Classic. Tuskegee competed against theUniversity of North Alabama in the first round of the playoffs, but lost 30–27.Tuskegee won the 2014 SIAC Football Championship and advanced to the first round of the NCAA Division II football playoffs with a loss of 20–17 toUniversity of West Georgia.

Thebaseball program has won thirteen SIAC championships and has produced several professional players, includingbig-leaguersLeon Wagner,Ken Howell,Alan Mills andRoy Lee Jackson.

Tuskegee won the 2013–14 SIAC Championship and advanced to the 2014 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament. Tuskegee won the NCAA Division II South Regional Championship by defeatingDelta State University 80–59.The Golden Tigers fell to No. 1-ranked Metro State (Metropolitan State University of Denver), 106–87, in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II tournament at Ford Center, inEvansville, Indiana.

Track began (Men and Women) at Tuskegee in 1916. The first Tuskegee Relays and Meet was held on May 7, 1927; it was the oldest African American relay meet.

The Tuskegee women's team won the championship of theAmateur Athletic Union national senior outdoor meet for all athletes 14 times in 1937–1942 and 1944–1951. The team likewise won the AAU national indoor championship four times in 1941, 1945, 1946 and 1948.^[56]

Tuskegee'sAlice Coachman was the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in any sport, at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.Iram Lewis, a Tuskegee graduate of architecture, is an Olympian relay runner who competed for the Bahamas.

The Marching Crimson Piper Band (MCP) is one of the oldest HBCU marching bands in the nation, having been founded in 1883. Since its inception, the band has performed at TU athletic events, nationally televised shows, NFL games, the Honda Battle of the Bands, Mardi Gras parades, and many other notable events. MCP is accompanied by the Crimson Piperettes (danceline) and Twirling Divas.^[57]

This article's list of alumnimay not follow Wikipedia'sverifiability policy. Pleaseimprove this article by removing names that do not have independentreliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this articleand are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriatecitations.(January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Alabama
• UNCF

• Brandon, Dwayne T., Lydia A. Isaac, and Thomas A. LaVeist. "The legacy of Tuskegee and trust in medical care: is Tuskegee responsible for race differences in mistrust of medical care?."Journal of the National Medical Association 97, no. 7 (2005): 951.
• Tim Brooks,Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919, 320–327. University of Illinois Press, 2004. Early recordings by the Tuskegee Institute Singers.
• Brown, M. Christopher. "The politics of industrial education: Booker T. Washington and Tuskegee State Normal School, 1880-1915."The Negro Educational Review 50, no. 3 (1999): 123.
• Buckley, Ingrid A., and Hira Narang. "A Study: Exploring the Feasibility of Developing a Computer Science Online Degree Program at Tuskegee University."Higher Education Studies 4, no. 3 (2014): 48–57.
• Chandler, Dana R. "Lifting the veil: digitizing Black archives at Tuskegee University."The Public Historian 40, no. 3 (2018): 232–251.
• Jones, Brian.The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History. Vol. 2. NYU Press, 2022.
• Jones, Brian P.The Tuskegee Revolt: Student Activism, Black Power, and the Legacy of Booker T. Washington. City University of New York, 2018.
• Mayes, McKinley. "Status of agricultural research programs at 1890 land-grant institutions and Tuskegee University." InA Century of Service, pp. 53–58. Routledge, 2017.
• Sodeke, Stephen Olufemi, and Lauren R. Powell. "Paying tribute to Henrietta lacks at Tuskegee University and at the Virginia Henrietta lacks commission, Richmond, Virginia."Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 30, no. 4 Suppl (2019): 1.
• Sodeke, Stephen Olufemi. "Tuskegee University experience challenges conventional wisdom: is integrative bioethics practice the new ethics for the public's health?."Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 23, no. 4 0 (2012): 15.

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