Lifting the Veil...

All across America there are countless number of statues that have been erected that reveal much about our nation’s past.  Each statue offers a point of reference in the collective conscience of our nation and pays tribute to a time, event or to a person that has made a significant contribution in society.   Of course some people do not see all statures in the same way as I do and… yes, some statues do spark a lot of debate about their meaning.  All the same, these statues for good or bad, remind us of who we are, where we have been and what we have done in the American experience.  

One of the most significant statues in my opinion in America is in Tuskegee, Al on the historical campus of Tuskegee University.   It is called “Lifting the Veil of Ignorance.” This status is a depiction with Booker T. Washington, the founder, lifting a cloak from the head and body of a young man who is symbolized as a terrified slave.  In the slaves hand is a book which represents education and who crouches on a plow and anvil, representing tools of agriculture and industry.   This unique bronzed statue was designed by sculptor Charles Keck and erected in 1922. 

This amazing statue has stood for nearly 90 years and has come to symbolize the link that exists between Tuskegee’s past to its future.  In a sense it displays the dream of one man in his quest to lift African Americans by providing a quality education that shows the way to a better life.  The statue only provides a mere glimpse into what the legacy of Booker T. Washington was about.  It in no way tells the full story of his journey, hopes, dreams, struggles, and failures.  But it does provide a spark to continue the debate about the value of technical education in a modern society.  This statue by far has stood as an undaunted reminder that there is still a lot of work to do, even in the 21^st century.  

We all can learn a lot from this noteworthy statue of our past, it continues to stand for something and a bench mark of greater and better things to come.  Milwaukee, like so many other major cities in America is looking for answers to improve the academic achievement of black youth, especially black males.  Perhaps some of those answers can be found not in the present, or future, but from the distance past, when the odds of getting a college education at all were truly a miracle.  Maybe, just maybe… Booker T. Washington had it right all alone… there is still a need to help lift the veil.  And in his own words, he stated “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”