African American Students in the Early Years of the Drexel Institute

Drexel President James MacAlister and Tuskegee Institute Founder, Booker T. Washington

In 1901 and 1902, James MacAlister responded to letters from Booker T. Washington, founder and first president of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University). In the letters, MacAlister shows deference to Dr. Washington, acknowledging Washington’s widespread recognition at the time as a leader in African American education. Concurrently, MacAlister freely acknowledged the racism and barriers prevalent in Philadelphia and the North.  

It appears that the two men met in 1895 at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, where Washington gave his controversial “Atlanta Compromise” speech. Both men were invited to serve as expert judges on the Exposition’s Board of Award. 

MacAlister admits to being unequipped to critique Washington’s work at Tuskegee, noting that, though he visited Tuskegee, he did not spend enough time there to fully develop any opinions on the school and its methodology. He states, “It would be impertinent for me, however, to say anything to you on the subject.”  

He does, however, suggest that Washington loosen Tuskegee’s hiring practices and add white professors to the exclusively African American teaching staff. MacAlister modulates his suggestion by acknowledging that he believes African Americans can become good teachers, but that due to the significant disadvantages they face, there are a limited number of Black professors to choose from. To support this sentiment, he notes the work of one highly respected agriculture professor: “It would be difficult I believe to find a teacher [sic] of more power and inspiration than the Professor [of] Agriculture at Tuskegee, and the result of his work, as seen all over the place, was more surprising.” This statement might refer to pioneering scientist and Tuskegee professor George Washington Carver. 

In this additional letter from MacAlister to Washington, we can surmise that Washington may have been asking for a recommendation for a teacher or administrator in Tuskegee’s industrial programs. MacAlister responded:  

“I know of no colored man competent to fill the place concerning which you write. I have tried to think of some large mechanical establishment where a man might be found with the attainments and training you require but I need not tell you that in the North colored men are excluded from such establishments. I think I have already suggested to you that we should be glad to give a free scholarship in the Drexel Institute to any one you might send here. The training he would receive would fit him for any important position you desire to establish in the Tuskegee Institute. I beg to renew that offer.”  

At this time, it is unknown if any students were sent at Washington’s recommendation to take advantage of this scholarship offer. The Drexel University Archives hopes to find evidence of additional Black students in the early years of the Institute as research continues. 

No Restrictions, Yet Few African American Students: William Sidney Pittman (1875-1958) and President MacAlister's Correspondence

One additional Drexel-Tuskegee connection is via architect William Sidney Pittman (1875-1958). Pittman, a graduate of Tuskegee, was awarded a scholarship to study architecture at Drexel. He is the earliest known Black graduate of the Drexel Institute, attending the school from 1898 to 1900. He is shown in this photo, second from the right in the back row. Pittman mentioned in one letter to his mentor and future father-in-law, Booker T. Washington, that while the education he was receiving at Drexel was high quality, its student body was “all white and no colored” [underlined twice]. Read more about Pittman’s experience at Drexel here. Pittman later married Portia Washington, daughter of Booker T. Washington. 

In a response dated June 6, 1901, to Baltimore superintendent of schools James H. Van Sickle’s letter presumably looking for African American teachers, MacAlister indicated that at that point, 10 years after Drexel’s opening, there had been no African American graduates of the Normal School (a common name for teacher’s training programs). He further added that African American students were not being adequately prepared to meet Drexel’s standards for incoming students, blaming this on individual lack of ambition and changes to Philadelphia’s Black community due to the Great Migration, rather than a product of persistent and systemic racism of the time. 

By 1904, there were at least a small number of Black students attending the Drexel Institute. In response to a letter from Sidney Brigham, in 1904, MacAlister wrote, “…there is no condition as to race, religion, or station for admission to any of the departments of the Institute. We have at present a few colored students in some of the Departments.” MacAlister goes on to explain that a black student would be “admitted on precisely the same terms as any other student.”