Charles Keck
1927
Bronze and Georgia marble
This statue was commissioned by Booker T. Washington High School’s principal, Charles Lincoln Harper, in 1927. The statue is the only duplicate of the original, which stands on the grounds of Tuskegee University and the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. One of the foremost black educators of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in 1856 on a small farm in Virginia. He went on to found the Tuskegee Institute in 1881. The statue of Washington, called “Booker T. Washington Lifting the Veil of Ignorance,” has an inscription that reads: “He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.”
Charles Keck, the statue’s sculptor, had a long career of creating statue portrait for memorials and monuments to nationally recognized figures in United States history.
Booker T. Washington High School
45 White House Dr SW
Atlanta, GA 30314