The TUSKEGEE NORMAL SCHOOL
FARM TO SCHOOL OVER 100 YEARS AGO

Booker T.Washington
Founder of Tuskegee University

Just eighteen years after Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery on the United States, Booker T. Washington recruited a staff of individuals to demonstrate to the world a long term plan for establishing self sufficiency for the newly freed Africans held captive in America’s slave system.

Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in 1881.  Washington’s goal was to educate the masses of these newly freed Africans in America’s legal slave system with practical training essential to meet the immediate needs of the people.  His desire ignited other dedicated staff members, including Dr. George Washington Carver and Thomas Campbell.

George Washington Carver was born the son of a slave.  Raised in Missouri, Carver grew up in an era of change in America. Slavery had just been abolished and newly freed Africans lacked the skills necessary to compete in a free enterprise system. 

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about friends of school

OUR CURRICULUM

We recommend every school to read, Up From Slavery by Booker T.Washington and The Moveable School Goes To The Negro Farmer written by Thomas Campbell to understand what we mean as the "Tuskegee Model."

Within each of these books certain aspects of Dr. George Washington Carver life and role is mentioned. We also recommend researching the life Dr. George Washington Carver (too many books to mention here).

Together, these three individuals demonstrated how to build a school directly out of slavery using agriculture as the foundation of their attempt of developing self sufficiency.

"The Four Steps of Hotep," is a 28 page ebook that simplifies "The Tuskegee Model," and connects this past lesson to the present Farm to School movement.

Click here to purchase ( $3.00)

OUR MISSION IS UNIVERSAL...BUT WE ARE STARTING IN THE LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES

Since Healthy Economics is defined as the day a community once termed low-income becomes a normal functioning community,
our efforts begin in low-income communities, however, our model can benefit any community.

The Friends of school program has the goal of strengthening the fundamental organizations on school campuses to promote school spirit while preserving community historical continuity through its graduates.

The Friends of School Program takes three steps to achieve our goal.

1. Build the Complete School
Our strategy is to build what we call the complete school. The school is "complete" when the basic membership organizations at a school site are functioning.

We define these organizations as: Student Government/Leadership, Parent Teacher Association, and Alumni Association.

2. Partner the complete school with business/community partners to manage the schools farmers market and school garden. The above organizations realize they are greater with numbers and agree to bulk purchase, share garden duties, etc.

3. Establish an intergenerational Enterprise
The above organizations actually go beyond the school and utilize their body and governance to start/manage businesses that best serve their needs and wants. We recommend starting with the Mo' Better Food Farmers Market and Store menitoned above.

The Big Head
We believe, if every school had its own brain, it should grow smarter each year through its graduates.

In many low-income communities, high school graduates are rarely tracked to participate in the improvement of the community.

The Big Head Concept is our vision of keeping graduates connected to the affairs of their high school.

Get Involved and join the 1stSaturdays monthly volunteer day.