. . . I always make it a rule to read a chapter [in the Bible] or a portion of a chapter in the morning, before beginning the work of the day.
—Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery
The chapel, designed by Paul Rudolph and former Tuskegee Institute professors John Welch and Louis Fry, is known architecturally for its lack of right angles and its astonishing acoustics. Built in 1969, it replaced architect Robert R. Taylor's original chapel, built in 1896-98 with 1,200,000 bricks made and laid by Tuskegee students.
Religion has always played a major role in the life of the school. For many years students were required to attend daily vesper services and two Sunday services. In the chapel they also attended major cultural events, such as concerts by W. C. Handy, John Philip Sousa, and Duke Ellington and speeches by Mary McLeod Bethune, Martin Luther King, Jr., and four U.S. Presidents.
[Photo captions]
Top right: The present-day chapel contains
reproductions of the original chapel's
stained glass "Singing Windows" that
portray Negro spirituals.
Main photo: The original chapel, which stood on this
site, was the first building in the county
to have electric lights. It was struck by
lightning and destroyed by fire in 1957.
Comments 0 comments