TUSKEGEE, Ala. – With songs of praise and inspirational words, the families of Tuskegee University’s founders and the community united to honor this institution and its forefathers. For the fourth year, wreaths were laid at the gravesites of Lewis Adams and Booker T. Washington today to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of Tuskegee Normal School (now Tuskegee University) on July 4, 1881. Part family reunion and part prayer service, the ceremony was an homage to the faith and legacy of Adams and Washington.
Robin Washington Banks, one of Washington’s great granddaughters, said the university’s reach, nationally and internationally, is so far and vast that this day should always be a celebration for the City of Tuskegee. She also said that the existence of the school was an answer to the prayers of Adams, the former slave and businessman who helped secure the funds and government action to establish the university.
“These are hallowed grounds,” Washington Banks said about the university. “We come to give God the praise.”
