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Speaker 1: Hey, they're history fans, We're taking the day off, but

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Speaker 1: don't worry, We've got plenty of classic shows to tide

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Speaker 1: you over. Please enjoy these flashback episodes from the TDI

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Speaker 1: HC Vault. Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that believes there's no time like the present

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Speaker 1: to learn about the past. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and in

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Speaker 1: this episode, we're talking about the founding of an influential school,

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Speaker 1: one that marked the start of a new era for

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Speaker 1: African American education, both in Alabama and across the nation.

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Speaker 1: The day was July fourth, eighteen eighty one. The Tuskegee

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Speaker 1: State Normal School now Tuskegee University opened its doors to

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Speaker 1: students for the first time. The school had been establishished

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Speaker 1: under a charter from the Alabama Legislature and was intended

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Speaker 1: to serve as a training ground for future Alabama teachers.

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Speaker 1: To fulfill that purpose, Tuskegee's program provided students with a

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Speaker 1: mix of both academic and vocational training. The patriotic date

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Speaker 1: of the school's official opening was chosen to celebrate the

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Speaker 1: independence of the nation and the recent emancipation of the

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Speaker 1: African American people. According to the school's principal and lead teacher,

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Speaker 1: Booker T. Washington. Thirty students turned up for admission on

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Speaker 1: the first day of classes, and by the end of

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Speaker 1: the month they had been joined by twenty more. Although

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Speaker 1: Tuskegee Institute was founded in the summer of eighteen eighty one,

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Speaker 1: planning for the school began several years earlier. In eighteen

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Speaker 1: seventy nine, a formerly enslaved tim smith and community leader

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Speaker 1: named Lewis Adams was approached by a political hopeful named W. F. Foster.

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Speaker 1: Foster was a white Southern Democrat running to keep his

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Speaker 1: seat in the Alabama Senate, and he hoped that Adams

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Speaker 1: would use his influence to help him secure the black

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Speaker 1: vote in Macon County. Lewis Adams agreed to help, but

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Speaker 1: in exchange, he wanted Foster to pass a bill allocating

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Speaker 1: money for the construction of an educational institute for African Americans.

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Speaker 1: Foster went on to win his race, and with the

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Speaker 1: aid of his colleague in the House of Representatives, Arthur L. Brooks,

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Speaker 1: he was able to uphold his end of the bargain. Together,

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Speaker 1: Foster and Brooks drafted House Bill one sixty five that

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Speaker 1: legislation authorized the creation of an all black school in Alabama,

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Speaker 1: and allocated two thousand dollars to pay the salaries of

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Speaker 1: teachers and to provide free tuition to any student who

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Speaker 1: agreed to teach in an Alabama public school upon graduation.

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Speaker 1: The bill also created a board of commissioners to help

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Speaker 1: organize and manage the school. Among the original men members

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Speaker 1: were Lewis Adams and George W. Campbell, both of whom

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Speaker 1: are generally considered the school's co founders, along with Booker T. Washington.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of Washington, let's trace the path that ultimately led

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Speaker 1: to him becoming the first principal of Tuskegee's new school.

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Speaker 1: Booker Talia Faroe or Tolliver Washington was born into slavery

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Speaker 1: in Hailesford, Virginia, on April fifth, eighteen fifty six. When

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Speaker 1: he was nine years old, Washington and his family gained

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Speaker 1: their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation. Shortly after, they moved

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Speaker 1: to the free state of West Virginia, where the young

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Speaker 1: boy taught himself to read and began attending school for

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Speaker 1: the first time. In his teenage years, Washington performed backbreaking

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Speaker 1: labor in the salt furnaces and coal mines of West Virginia,

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Speaker 1: eventually saving up enough money to afford tuition at Hampton

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Speaker 1: Institute in Virginia. He enrolled there in the fall of

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Speaker 1: eighteen seventy two, and later proved to be such an

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Speaker 1: exemplary student that he was asked to return as a

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Speaker 1: teacher in eighteen seventy nine. Two years later, the founder

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Speaker 1: and president of Hampton Institute, General Samuel C. Armstrong, received

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Speaker 1: a letter from George Campbell and Lewis Adams. They were

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Speaker 1: looking for a quote well qualified white man to serve

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Speaker 1: as principal of their new school in Tuskegee, and they

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Speaker 1: wanted to know if Armstrong had any recommendations. The General

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Speaker 1: responded by recommending the twenty five year old booker T.

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Speaker 1: Washington for the job. He's the best man we ever

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Speaker 1: had here, Armstrong wrote, I know of no white man

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Speaker 1: who could do better. Washington got the job and arrived

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Speaker 1: in Tuskegee during the summer of eighteen eighty one. He

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Speaker 1: quickly realized he had his work cut out for him.

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Speaker 1: The Alabama House Bill had allocated funds for salaries intuition,

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Speaker 1: but it didn't provide any land or buildings for the school.

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Speaker 1: As a result, the initial classes were held inside a

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Speaker 1: ramshackle one room building that had been lent to the

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Speaker 1: school by a local church. In his book Up from Slavery,

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Speaker 1: Washington reflected on this early challenge, saying, quote, I recall

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Speaker 1: that during the first months of school that I taught

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Speaker 1: in this building, it was in such poor repair that,

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Speaker 1: whenever it rained, one of the older students would very

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Speaker 1: kindly leave his lessons and hold an umbrella over me

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Speaker 1: while I heard the recitations of the others. This arrangement

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Speaker 1: was untenable for obvious reasons, so three months later, Washington

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Speaker 1: purchased a one hundred acre abandoned cotton plantation that had

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Speaker 1: been partially burned during the Civil War. It was known,

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Speaker 1: fittingly enough as the Old Burnt Place. The cost of

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Speaker 1: the farm was five hundred dollars, with a two hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty dollars down payment. An old friend from the

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Speaker 1: Hampton Institute, James Marshall, loaned the money to Washington from

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Speaker 1: his personal bank account. The only farm buildings that had

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Speaker 1: survived the fire were a cabin, a kitchen, a stable,

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Speaker 1: and a henhouse. It was a modest improvement over the

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Speaker 1: school's original makeshift classroom, but the real value of the

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Speaker 1: property was the opportunity for expansion it provided. Washington and

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Speaker 1: his students work themselves ragged, transforming their new campus not

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Speaker 1: only into a functioning school, but a functioning farm as well.

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Speaker 1: They cleared dozens of acres of land, planted crops, and

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Speaker 1: even constructed a kiln so they could make bricks to

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Speaker 1: build their own buildings. Meanwhile, Olivia A. Davidson, the school's

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Speaker 1: only other teacher and Washington's future wife, began hosting fundraising

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Speaker 1: festivals and dinners as a way to help pay back

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Speaker 1: the school's loan. After just three months of her campaign,

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Speaker 1: enough money had been earned to repay the loan to

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Speaker 1: James Marshall, and two months after that, the school was

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Speaker 1: able to pay off the remaining cost of the land,

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Speaker 1: meaning that it now owned its one hundred acre campus

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Speaker 1: full and outright. These early fundraising successes were key to

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Speaker 1: the school's survival and would later be turned to time

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Speaker 1: and time again as part of Washington's never ending effort

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Speaker 1: to keep the school debt free and prosperous. Those efforts

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Speaker 1: were not in vain either, as Tuskegee quickly rose to

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Speaker 1: national prominence under the direction of its founder He remained

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Speaker 1: the head of the institution until his death in nineteen fifteen,

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Speaker 1: at which point he was buried on the campus near

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Speaker 1: the university chapel. At the time of Washington's death, Tuskegee

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Speaker 1: Institute had fifteen hundred students, roughly two hundred faculty members,

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Speaker 1: and one hundred fully furnished buildings. He had taken the

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Speaker 1: school a long way in his lifetime, and that legacy

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Speaker 1: of progress continues to this day. Now known as Tuskegee University,

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Speaker 1: the school is home to about three thousand students and

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Speaker 1: is one of the top ranked historically black colleges in

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Speaker 1: the country. That's one of the many reasons why the

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Speaker 1: school was and still is the pride of the swift

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Speaker 1: growing South. I'm Gabe blues Yay, and hopefully you now

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Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and

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Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, you can always

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Speaker 1: send them my way at this day at iHeartMedia dot com.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank

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Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again. Tomorrow

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Speaker 1: for another Day in History Class. Hello, and welcome to

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Speaker 1: this Day in History Class, a show for those who

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Speaker 1: can never know enough about history. I'm Gabe Lucier, and

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Speaker 1: in this episode, we're looking back at a very special

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Speaker 1: Fourth of July weekend in New York City. Millions of

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Speaker 1: people had gathered there to celebrate the one hundredth birthday

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Speaker 1: of the Statue of Liberty, and the party officially kicked

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Speaker 1: off on July third, when the statue was relt for

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Speaker 1: the first time in years. The day was July third,

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six. President Ronald Reagan rededicated the Statue of

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Speaker 1: Liberty in honor of its centennial anniversary. The event was

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Speaker 1: held on Governor's Island in New York City and was

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Speaker 1: part of the opening night ceremonies of a four day

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Speaker 1: celebration dubbed Liberty Weekend. The country had just completed an

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Speaker 1: extensive three year restoration of the Statue of Liberty, and

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Speaker 1: the big reveal had been time to coincide both with

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Speaker 1: the statue centennial and with Independence Day weekend. Relighting the

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Speaker 1: statue's torch was the opening act of the patriotic festivities,

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Speaker 1: and Reagan was joined in the task by his wife,

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Speaker 1: First Lady Nancy Reagan. French President Francois Mederon was in

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Speaker 1: attendance too, a gesture of goodwill from the country that

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Speaker 1: had gifted the statue a century earlier. After giving a

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Speaker 1: ten minute rededication speech, the President declared at time to

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Speaker 1: quote unveil that gallant lady. Then he and Missus Reagan

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Speaker 1: pressed a button, sending a laser beam across the harbor

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Speaker 1: and re lighting the statue for all to see. The

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Speaker 1: flood lit unveiling happened gradually, with the light slowly rising

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Speaker 1: from the base of the pedestal to the tip of

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Speaker 1: the crown, more than three hundred feet in the air.

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Speaker 1: A chorus of America the Beautiful swelled in the background,

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Speaker 1: and all the ships in the harbor turned on their

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Speaker 1: lights and sounded their horns in tribute. Then, to cap

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Speaker 1: off the evening and start the weekend outright of fireworks

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Speaker 1: display filled the skies above the statue's head. In nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty two, four years before the statue's centennial, a team

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Speaker 1: of French and American engineers was convened to examine the

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Speaker 1: statue's condition. Their findings weren't good, and it was announced

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Speaker 1: that the statue was in need of major repairs, both

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Speaker 1: inside and out. Shortly after, President Reagan appointed Lee Iacocca,

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Speaker 1: then chairman of the Chrysler Corporation, to spearhead a private

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Speaker 1: commission to help restore and preserve the Statue of Liberty.

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Speaker 1: With that goal in mind, the Statue of Liberty Ellis

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Speaker 1: Island Foundation was founded. The group launched a fundraising drive

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Speaker 1: right away, collecting money for the repair of both the

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Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, with the statues restoration

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Speaker 1: to be handled first. The American people believed so strongly

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Speaker 1: in restoring those two monuments to America's immigrant heritage that

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Speaker 1: they contributed more than three hundred and fifty million dollars

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Speaker 1: in donations. With the necessary funds secured and then some,

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Speaker 1: the foundation began working closely with the National Park Service

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Speaker 1: to plan and implement the statue's restoration. They hired architects, engineers,

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Speaker 1: and conservators to assess exactly what repairs were needed, and

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Speaker 1: then designed a strategy for how to tackle each one.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty four, the statue was closed to the

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Speaker 1: public and the true hard labor began. Workers erected scaffolding,

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Speaker 1: all around the statue's exterior, obscuring it from view for

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Speaker 1: the better part of the next three years. Time had

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Speaker 1: not been come to Lady Liberty. Her famous torch, for example,

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Speaker 1: had sustained severe water damage and had to be replaced

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Speaker 1: with an exact replica of Frederic August Bertoldi's original design.

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Speaker 1: The torch's new flame was even covered in a layer

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Speaker 1: of twenty four carried gold, so that it would reflect

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Speaker 1: the sun's rays in the daylight, just as the sculptor

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Speaker 1: had intended. Repairs were also made to the statue's internal skeleton.

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Speaker 1: Workers stripped out the rusting iron armature and replaced it

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Speaker 1: with stainless steel bars, greatly strengthening the statue's arms, shoulders,

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Speaker 1: and the rays of her crown. A century of weather

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Speaker 1: pollution and tourists had also wreaked havoc on the statue's

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Speaker 1: skin and gown. Workers used liquid nitrogen to remove layers

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Speaker 1: of old paint from the interior of the copper skin,

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Speaker 1: and then they patched holes in the exterior, adding new

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Speaker 1: copper where necessary. Replacing the statue's skin proved tricky, though,

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Speaker 1: as the look of it had changed a great deal

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Speaker 1: since its inaugural dedication back in eighteen eighty six. When

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Speaker 1: it first arrived, the monument had been new, shiny copper,

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Speaker 1: but as the decades passed, the statue turned a dull

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Speaker 1: brown and then faded to the familiar blue green color

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Speaker 1: we see today. That weathering was the result of a

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Speaker 1: series of interconnected chemical reactions which changed the statue's mineral composition.

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Speaker 1: It would have been impossible to match the color using

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Speaker 1: brand new copper, so instead, the engineers borrowed an old

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Speaker 1: copper rooftop from Bell Labs, which had the same blue

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Speaker 1: green patina as the statue. In exchange for that contribution,

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Speaker 1: the lab was given some of the old copper skin

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Speaker 1: for testing. The Statue of Liberty and its pedestal were

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Speaker 1: also modernized during the restoration. Updates included new elevators, improved lighting,

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Speaker 1: and the addition of an educational exhibit in the statue's base.

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Speaker 1: Crews encountered plenty of surprises during the lengthy refurbishment, including

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Speaker 1: several birds nests tucked into the folds of Lady Liberty's robes.

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Speaker 1: They also discovered graffiti dating back to the statue's construction,

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Speaker 1: including a letter B for Bartoldi painted on the first

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Speaker 1: copper plate to be installed. However, not all of the

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Speaker 1: surprises were pleasant. For example, it turned out Bartoldi had

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Speaker 1: used an asbestos based substance in an effort to prevent

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Speaker 1: galvanic corrosion. Not only did that not work, it also

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Speaker 1: meant that workers had to wear protective gear with self

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Speaker 1: contained breathing devices while working inside the statue. Despite this

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Speaker 1: and other obstacles, the nearly one thousand workers on the

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Speaker 1: project and the architects and engineers who directed them completed

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Speaker 1: the task on schedule and for a lot less money

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Speaker 1: than many had predicted. The total cost of the renovations

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Speaker 1: on the Statue of Liberty and her Torch cost an

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Speaker 1: estimated thirty nine million dollars, which would be about one

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Speaker 1: hundred and eight million dollars in today's money. More controversial

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Speaker 1: was the eleven million dollars that New York City spent

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Speaker 1: on the statue's Liberty Weekend celebrations. Many thought the money

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Speaker 1: could have been put to better use than throwing a

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Speaker 1: lavish party, especially since tickets to the opening night ceremonies

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Speaker 1: could only be purchased for five thousand dollars, a price

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Speaker 1: tag well beyond the means of the average American accessible

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Speaker 1: or not, the statue's grand unveiling was planned with as

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Speaker 1: much glitz and glamour as possible. David Walper, the producer

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Speaker 1: of the Landmark Roots mini series, was brought in to

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Speaker 1: produce the ceremony for live TV. Celebrity speakers included the

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Speaker 1: likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Gregory Peck, and there were

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Speaker 1: also musical performances from Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra, and several others.

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Speaker 1: In estimated two million people watched the rededication in person,

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Speaker 1: while as many as one point five billion watched from

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Speaker 1: their homes in fifty one different countries. It had been

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Speaker 1: a long, expensive road to restoring Lady Liberty, but when

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Speaker 1: the climactic moment finally came and she lit up once again,

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Speaker 1: most Americans agreed it had been worth it. And for

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Speaker 1: those who still weren't feeling the patriotic love that night,

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Speaker 1: well at least there were fireworks. I'm Gabelusier, and hopefully

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Speaker 1: you now know a little more about history today than

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Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If you have a second and you're

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Speaker 1: so inclined, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

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Speaker 1: at TDI HC Show. And if you have any feedback

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Speaker 1: you'd like to share, feel free to drop me a

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Speaker 1: line by writing to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back

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Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class