The outgoing president President of Tuskegee regrets that he didn't get a chance to set up a center to study the "life and times of Booker T. Washington, who founded the university in 1881."  While I understand why he may have wanted to do something like that (and he hopes that his successor will), it is a little odd that a center should be set up at the place that BTW built and ran.  Maybe it is nothing more than an attempt to reconstitute the heart and purpose of the institution by studying and honoring BTW; maybe someone finally noted that this monument is not enough. See Robert J. Norrell's fine new biography of Mr. Washington to find out how he navigated through the "severe American crucible" all the while knowing that everyone, black and white, must live up to "the American standard."  Also see my chapter on BTW in this book.