Sept. 15, 1862
Born in Hale County on this day in 1862 to an enslaved mother, Nathan Benjamin Young grew up in Alabama during Reconstruction. Young attended Stillman Institute (now Stillman College) in Tuscaloosa, then enrolled in Talladega College in the school’s teacher-training branch. Talladega College President Henry S. DeForest greatly influenced Young, and later the two planned a campaign to bring education to black youths throughout rural Alabama and the South. In 1892, Booker T. Washington hired Young to teach at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), where he stayed for five years. He later served as president at Florida A&M College in Tallahassee and Lincoln University in Missouri.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
