Booker T. Washington
Build. Grow. Own.
The historical record.
Booker T. Washington became Tuskegee’s first principal in 1881. Under his leadership, the institution connected education with practical work and the development of skills. Tuskegee’s agricultural work became part of a broader effort to build educational opportunity for Black students.
The institution also became a home for George Washington Carver’s work and the farmer-education efforts associated with Thomas Monroe Campbell. Their stories are connected, but each represents a distinct contribution.
Historical photograph reproduced from the Library of Congress digital file, without AI alteration or colorization. Catalog advisory: “No known restrictions on publication.” No institutional or estate endorsement is implied; merchandise artwork and permissions are reviewed separately.
Education.
We use education to connect understanding with the ability to do something useful. A young person can study a plant, help care for it, understand the costs of growing it and consider the business that could be built around it.
Our application of this principle is practical and contemporary: bring classrooms, working farms and enterprise development into conversation. Academic knowledge and community knowledge should strengthen one another.
What should every learner be able to demonstrate — not simply describe — at the end of a farm-learning experience?
Explore Learning at DRT“Build. Grow. Own.” is T&T’s interpretive brand statement, not a quotation from Washington. Selecting an educational principle does not equate the figures’ full political or historical perspectives.