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The Life and Times of Albert Lee Murray: Tuskegee University Information

Located in the Ford Motor Company Library on the campus of Tuskegee University

Tuskegee University, "Pride of the Swift Growing South"

Information about Tuskegee University

  • The only college or university campus in the nation designated a National Historic Site by an act of the U.S. Congress.
  • One of the sites for the Mass Production and Distribution of HeLa cells (Henrietta Lacks) from which the Salk vaccine for polio arose.
  • Number one producer of African American aerospace science engineers in the nation.
  • Leading producer of African American engineering graduates in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering.
  • Top producer of African American PhDs in Materials Science and Engineering in the U.S.
  • Produced more African American general officers in the military than any other institution, including the service academies.
  • The only historically black college or university (HBCU) with a fully accredited College of Veterinary Medicine that offers the Doctoral Degree and produces over 75% of the African American veterinarians in the world.
  • The only HBCU in the nation designated as the location for the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.
  • Home of the only visual arts and bioethics museum in the nation, the Legacy Museum.
  • Offered the first nursing baccalaureate program in Alabama and one of the oldest in the United States which arose from the work of Halle Tanner Dillon.
  • Originator and producer of the famous "Tuskegee Airmen," in partnership with the U.S. Army Air Corps.
  • Producer of the first African American four-star general: Daniel "Chappie" James.
  • Ralph Ellison, the first African American winner of the National Book Award, for Invisible Man matriculated at Tuskegee University.
  • 1939 Tuskegee University graduate Albert Murray, co-founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center and first awardee of the prestigious Harper Lee Award.
  • Center for Plant Biotechnology Research, training U.S. Scientists and students and scientists from Ghana, China, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, and Tanzania to continue work of Dr. George Washington Carver in today's science and technological spheres.
  • One of the first centers funded by NASA to develop technology for growing food in space during human space missions.
  • The only HBCU and one of only 11 universities in the world funded and authorized by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to establish and operate a Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center, which is the technologically sophisticated hub of Continuing Education and Hospitality/Tourism Management Training.
  • The visionary offspring of two American giants, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.