Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a

Creek War The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...

veteran under

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

, and made the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

that year. It was incorporated in 1843. It is the largest city in Macon County. At the 2020 census the population was 9,395, down from 9,865 in 2010 and 11,846 in 2000. Tuskegee has been important in

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

history and highly influential in United States history since the 19th century. Before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, the area was developed for cotton plantations, dependent on enslaved African-American people. After the war, many

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

continued to work on plantations in the rural area, which was devoted to agriculture, primarily cotton as a commodity crop. In 1881 the Tuskegee Normal School (now Tuskegee University, a

historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

) was founded by Lewis Adams, a former slave whose father, Jesse Adams, a white slave owner, had allowed him to be educated. Its first founding principal was

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

, who developed a national reputation and philanthropic network to support education of

and their children. In 1923, the Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center was established, initially for the estimated 300,000 African-American veterans of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the South, when public facilities were racially segregated. Twenty-seven buildings were constructed on the 464-acre campus."Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center Celebrates - 85 Years of Service"
press release, Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS), 2008 The city was the subject of a civil rights case, ''

Gomillion v. Lightfoot ''Gomillion v. Lightfoot'', 364 U.S. 339 (1960), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found an electoral district with boundaries created to disenfranchise Af ...

'' (1960), in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that the state legislature had violated the Fifteenth Amendment in 1957 by gerrymandering city boundaries as a 28-sided figure that excluded nearly all black voters and residents, and none of the white voters or residents. The city's boundaries were restored in 1961 after the ruling.

Etymology

The name "Tuskegee" comes from Spanish "Tasquiqui", which came from the Muskogee word "Taskeke", a name of a

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

settlement at this site, meaning "warriors".

History

The

Creek people The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsIndian Removal Act of 1830 in furtherance of

President Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

’s goals, most of the Creek bands were removed from their homelands in the Southeast to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. Pioneer white planters and other migrants moved into the area, mostly from eastern Southern states. The planters brought or purchased enslaved African Americans to clear woods and develop cotton

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s. Invention of the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

had made short-staple cotton profitable to process and it became the chief commodity crop of the Deep South through the 19th century. Short-staple cotton could be cultivated in the upland areas of Georgia. Alabama,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Designated as the

of rural Macon County, Tuskegee developed as its only city.

Late 19th century

In 1881, the young

was hired to develop the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers on the grounds of a former plantation. It was founded to train teachers for the segregated school system and

for self-sufficiency. Washington established a work-study program by which students practiced skills and trades. Over the decades, the programs were expanded. This was later named the Tuskegee Institute. Graduate courses were added and it became

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

. Washington was known for his emphasis on

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and

self-improvement Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

. The institute became known for stressing a practical education with

work experience Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal tr ...

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...

, to prepare them for the agricultural and mechanical work available in the small towns and rural areas to which most would return. Teaching was a highly respected calling, as education was a major goal among the freedmen and their children. Washington believed that African Americans would achieve acceptance by Southern whites when they had raised themselves.Richard B. Sobol, "Reviewed Work: ''Gomillion versus Lightfoot: The Tuskegee Gerrymander Case'' by Bernard Taper"
''Columbia Law Review'' Vol. 62, No. 4 (Apr. 1962), pp. 748–751 Washington led the school for decades, building a wide national network of white

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

donors A donor in general is a person, organization or government which donates something voluntarily. The term is usually used to represent a form of pure altruism, but is sometimes used when the payment for a service is recognized by all parties as rep ...

among some of the major

philanthropists Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

of the era, including George Eastman. At the same time, Washington secretly provided funding for its legal defense of some highly visible

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

cases, including supporting challenges to Southern states' discriminatory constitutions and practices that disenfranchised African Americans.Richard H. Pildes, Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon, ''Constitutional Commentary'', vol.17, 2000, pp.13–14
Accessed March 10, 2008 Washington worked with Julius Rosenwald and

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

at the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

to develop models for rural schools, to be used with Rosenwald's matching funds to build more schools for black children in the South.

Early 20th century

Beginning in 1932, the

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

was the site of the now-infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972), started to test treatments of the

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

. 600 African-American men became involved, being offered free

medical care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...

by the U.S. government for their participation, while being unwittingly tested for

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

. With funding cut by the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, staff cut back on medication to treat the disease and studied the effects of untreated syphilis on patients and their sexual partners. Those in the study who had syphilis were not told, nor were they informed that treatment was available for their disease, even after

antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...

s had been developed. One of the most famous teachers at Tuskegee was

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the ea ...

, whose name is synonymous with innovative research into

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

farming methods and the development of hundreds of commercial products derived from regional crops, including

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

s and sweet potatoes. During World War II, Tuskegee and Tuskegee Institute were also home to the famed

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

. This was the first squadron of African-American

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

s trained in the

U.S. Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

for service in that war. Tuskegee University in the 21st century is a center of excellence for African-American education. The heart of the university has been designated as a National Historic District and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1974. The Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center was opened in 1923, authorized by Congress. A total of 27 buildings were constructed on the 464-acre campus, which provided housing and a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

to serve the needs of more than 300,000 African-American

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

from World War I. It attracted

doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

from top schools, such as Dr. Toussaint Tourgee Tildon, a graduate of

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. He was one of the first six African-American doctors to work at the hospital; as director of the complex for 12 years (1946–1958), he achieved accreditation for a medical residency program at the hospital. He also worked to ensure accessibility for graduates to good medical positions in the federal government.Elizabeth D. Schafer. "Tildon, Toussaint Tourgee"
''American National Biography Online,'' February 2003, published by Oxford University Press, Inc., copyright 2000 American Council of Learned Societies In the 1930s, a group of black men from the Tuskegee Men's Club began efforts to get more black

voters Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

registered. Beginning in 1941, the group reorganized under the name the Tuskegee Civic Association (TCA). With the group's consistent effort to register more voters, the area's statistics of registered black voters continued to increase. The group and potential voters were often met with obstacles that prevented them from being successful. The surrounding black community showed support and wanted to recognize black leaders in the community. The work of the TCA also had a huge emphasis on educating their communities on various

civic duties Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to ...

. Though the existing support for the TCA was not often vocalized, many black community members wanted to challenge the political system that was present in Macon County. The group shed a light on the disparities in the numbers of black people applying for

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The ru ...

and those who were successful, even going as far as talking to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

Voting rights challenge

Following passage of the

Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwigh ...

, activists made progress in registering black voters in the city. African Americans in Tuskegee and other Alabama cities had been largely

disenfranchised Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...

after passage of a new state constitution in 1901, which included requirements that were discriminatory in practice, including a

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

and

literacy tests A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. In the United States, between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered t ...

. In 1957, a total of 1000 voters were registered, with the 400 registered black voters nearly equaling the number of white voters. But in the city, African Americans outnumbered whites on a four-to-one basis; among them were many highly educated, professional African Americans working at the Tuskegee Institute and the Veterans Administration hospital. That year, without debate and against the protests of many African Americans, the state legislature redrew the boundaries of the city, enacting Local Law 140, which created an irregular, 28-sided city boundary that left only ten black voters within the newly defined city, and excluded 420 black voters. Those excluded included the entire professional staff of the Institute and the hospital. No white voters were excluded by the change.Allen Mendenhall, "Gomillion v. Lightfoot"
''Encyclopedia of Alabama,'' May 2, 2011 The law was intended to guarantee that minority whites could retain control of the city even if more blacks succeeded in the arduous process of registering to vote. Some 3,000 African-American residents protested passage of the law at a church in Tuskegee; they also began an economic boycott of white businesses in the city. They referred to the boycott as a "selective buying campaign" due to the fact that boycotting was illegal under state law. It lasted about four years, during which twenty-six businesses operated by white proprietors closed down. African Americans also organized a legal challenge to the law, supported by the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, in a case known as ''

''. The law was initially upheld by the US District Court and affirmed by the Appeals Court based in New Orleans. However, it was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1960, with the ruling implemented in 1961.Richard B. Sobol, "Reviewed Work: ''Gomillion versus Lightfoot: The Tuskegee Gerrymander Case'' by Bernard Taper"
''Columbia Law Review,'' Vol. 62, No. 4 (Apr. 1962), pp. 748–751, Published by: Columbia Law Review Association, Inc., accessed January 17, 2015 The court ruled that the gerrymandering of city boundaries was racially motivated and violated the

Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ...

which states that "states were not insulated from federal judicial review when they jeopardized federally protected rights." The exclusionary gerrymandering was overturned and the previous boundaries of the city were restored. This case was cited in the later ''

Baker v. Carr ''Baker v. Carr'', 369 U.S. 186 (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that redistricting qualifies as a justiciable question under the Fourteenth Amendment, thus enabling federal courts to hear Fourteen ...

'' (1964), in which the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruled that Tennessee's malapportionment of election districts violated

. It ruled that representation in both houses of all

state legislatures A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Stat ...

had to be based on population, under the " one man, one vote" doctrine, and that such districts had to be regularly updated to reflect population changes.

Post-''Gomillion''

In 1963, Tuskegee was to have been the first Alabama community to comply with a federal order to

desegregate Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

its

public schools Public school may refer to: *State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...

. The

school superintendent In the American education system, a superintendent or superintendent of schools is an administrator or manager in charge of a number of public schools or a school district, a local government body overseeing public schools. All school principa ...

, C.A. (Hardboy) Pruitt, at first opposed the admission of Black students, but worked with other community leaders to comply with the final order of the federal district court, with plans to admit 13 Black students in September 1963 to what had been an all-white high school. But Gov.

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

opposed compliance with the federal order anywhere in the state on the grounds that it would lead to violence. Behind the scenes, Wallace enlisted the aid of

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

members and neo-Nazis of the National States' Rights Party to gin up protests calling for the closing of schools that were scheduled to integrate. Wallace subsequently ordered public schools closed across the state and deployed state troopers on Sept. 3, 1963, to block the opening of Tuskegee High School. The school was integrated on Sept. 10, 1963, after President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

federalized the Alabama National Guard and 13 Black students were among only 165 students to begin the school year, against a total enrollment of about 550.

Johnny Ford Johnny L. Ford (born August 23, 1942 in Midway, Alabama) is an American politician and mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama, and a former Alabama State Representative. Early life and education He was raised as a child and attended elementary school in T ...

was elected the first black mayor of the city in 1972, and served six consecutive terms in office. Lucenia Williams Dunn was elected the first black woman mayor in 2000.

Governance

In the 21st century, Tuskegee has a council–manager government led by a four-member city council, a mayor, and an appointed city manager. The

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

acts as a legislative body of the city, passing laws and regulations and appointing citizens to the city's various boards. Each member of the city council is elected for a four-year term from one of three geographic single-member districts. Tuskegee has one city council member who is elected at-large to a four-year term and serves as mayor-pro tem. The duties of the mayor are to promote the city, communicate with residents, and preside over City Council meetings. As such, the position of mayor in Tuskegee is primarily ceremonial.

Geography

Tuskegee is located in central Macon County at (32.431506, −85.706781). According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 1.56%, are water.

Attractions

Downtown Tuskegee includes aspects of history in Tuskegee/Macon County from the time of incorporation to the present. It also has a site serving as the Tuskegee Visitor Center and is home to the Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center. Tuskegee area attractions include: *

and the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site (including the Oaks, Grey Columns, and George Washington Carver Museum

* Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site @ Historic

Moton Field Moton may refer to: People Given name * Moton Hopkins (born 1986), American professional gridiron football player Surname * LeVelle Moton (born 1974), American college basketball coach * Robert Russa Moton (1867–1940), African American educator a ...

br>
* Main Street Historic District (Tuskegee, Alabama), Main Street Historic District and North Main Street Historic District * The Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center * Butler Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, site of protests against 1957 state gerrymandering of the city * Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center *The Tuskegee Repertory Theatre/Jessie Clinton Arts Cente

* Tuskegee City Lake *

Tuskegee National Forest The Tuskegee National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Macon County, Alabama, just north of Tuskegee and west of Auburn. The topography is level to moderately sloping, with broad ridges with stream terraces and broad floodplains. Tu ...

·�

*

Kirks Old Farm Museum Kirks is a soft drink manufacturer founded in Queensland, Australia in 1865, producing a selection of soft drink flavours. Kirks is USA owned. History Before Kirks The Helidon Spa Water Company was founded in 1881 as a partnership between ch ...

Demographics

The table at right shows the effects of the state passing a law in 1957 to redefine the city of Tuskegee in a way that excluded nearly all black residents, dramatically reducing the population by 1960. The city and other officials were sued under ''

'' (1960); the US Supreme Court ruled against the state's action. The city boundaries were reinstituted, as reflected by the dramatic "increase" of population in the city recorded in 1970. The population in 1960, with the restored borders, was 7,240, according to the 1970 U.S. Census. Because of lack of economic opportunities in the largely rural area, both the city and rural county have lost population since the late 20th century.

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2010, there were 9,865 people, 3,749 households, and 1,956 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,624 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.8%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 0.1% Native American, 0.5%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 0.3% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. 1.3% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. There were 3,749 households, out of which 21.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 19.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 28.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.8% were non-families. 40.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.96. In the city, the population was spread out, with 18.5% under the age of 18, 27.8% from 18 to 24, 18.9% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 78.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $24,251, and the median income for a family was $43,472. Males had a median income of $40,653 versus $26,631 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $15,471. About 22.2% of families and 31.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 40.0% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 9,395 people, 2,936 households, and 1,470 families residing in the city.

Media

Tuskegee has one weekly newspaper, '' The Tuskegee News'', which has operated since 1865.

Transportation

U.S. Route 29 U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida to the western suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland in the Southern United States, connecting the Florida Panhandle to the Baltimore-Washington me ...

and

U.S. Route 80 U.S. Route 80 or U.S. Highway 80 (US 80) is a major east–west United States Numbered Highway in the Southern United States, much of which was once part of the early auto trail known as the Dixie Overland Highway. As the "0" in the rou ...

pass through Tuskegee. State Route 81 goes north from the town. Four miles north up Route 81 is the interchange with Interstate 85. A short distance beyond I-85 is the hamlet of Chehaw, where Southern Railway passenger trains made stops at the Western Railway of Alabama Depot. Into the mid-1960s both the Southern's ''Crescent (train), Crescent'' and its ''Piedmont Limited'' made stops at the depot. The railway's ''Crescent (train), Crescent'' was the last train to make stops at the station. The Southern Railway moved the train out in 1970 for a rerouting from an Atlanta-Montgomery-New Orleans itinerary to an Atlanta-Birmingham-New Orleans itinerary.

Notable people

*Ajiona Alexus, actress; born in Tuskegee *

, agricultural scientist, died in Tuskegee in 1943 *Sadie Peterson Delaney, chief librarian of the Veterans Administration Hospital *Nella Larsen, nurse, librarian, and novelist; worked at Tuskegee Institute in 1915 *Rosa Louise Parks, born in Tuskegee; she became a

activist in the 1950s in Montgomery, Alabama, contributing to the more than year-long Montgomery bus boycott that achieved desegregation of the city system *Lionel Richie, rhythm & blues singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and occasional actor; born in Tuskegee *Robin Roberts (newscaster), Robin Roberts, news anchor, ''Good Morning America''; born in Tuskegee *Bill Winston, pastor, televangelist, author and entrepreneur; born in Tuskegee *Sammy Younge Jr., civil rights activist; born in Tuskegee

Sister cities

* South Berwick, Maine, USA

Gallery

File:Tuskegee, Alabama Post Office (36083).JPG, Tuskegee Post Office (ZIP code:36083) File:Macon County-Tuskegee, Alabama Public Library.JP
Macon County-Tuskegee Public Library
File:Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center.JP
Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center
File:Tuskegee, Alabama Fire Department.JP
Tuskegee Fire Department
File:TuskegeeAlabama1.jpg, A view of the Macon County Courthouse from the park in the town square. The Main Street Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Macon County, Alabama, National Register of Historic Places on March 12, 1984. File:TuskegeeAlabama2.jpg, The statue of a Confederate soldier stands in the town square park. The pedestal reads: "Erected by The Daughters of the Confederacy to the Confederate Soldiers of Macon County". File:North Main Street Historic District Tuskegee Alabama.JPG, The North Main Street Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Macon County, Alabama, National Register of Historic Places on March 7, 1985. File:Grey Columns Tuskegee, Alabama.JPG, Built in 1857, Grey Columns now serves as the home of the president of

. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Macon County, Alabama, National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1980. File:Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.JPG, The Butler Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church (Tuskegee, Alabama), Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Macon County, Alabama, National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1995.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Tuskegee, Alabama, Cities in Alabama Cities in Macon County, Alabama Micropolitan areas of Alabama County seats in Alabama Alabama placenames of Native American origin Columbus metropolitan area, Georgia 1833 establishments in Alabama