December 16, 1898

President William McKinley visited the Tuskegee Institute at the request of founder Booker T. Washington. The president arrived in Tuskegee with his family, members of his cabinet and generals Joseph Wheeler, Henry Ware Lawton and William Rufus Shafter aboard special trains from Atlanta. Tuskegee Institute received the president along with Gov. Joseph Johnston, the entire Alabama Legislature, and a crowd of more than 6,000. The president toured the school grounds and witnessed a parade before speaking in the school’s chapel alongside the governor and others. During his speech, McKinley noted the enduring legacy of the institute and the progress it had made in sowing the “seeds of good citizenship.”

Read more at the Booker T. Washington Society.

Portrait of William McKinley, c. 1900. (Photograph by Charles Parker, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Booker T. Washington, seated on steps of porch, with wife and two sons, c. 1906. (Stereograph by Underwood & Underwood, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Maj. Gen. Henry Ware Lawton and staff standing on ship, c. 1890s. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Major General Shafter, commanding the first expedition to Cuba, c. 1908. (Stereograph by Strohmeyer & Wyman, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Portrait of Gov. Joseph F. Johnston, c. 1890-1920. (Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.