Correct answer: to produce men and women capable of work
Booker T. Washington compiled the book, Tuskegee and Its People, to highlight the achievements of the Tuskegee Institute and those who were educated there. The Tuskegee Institute is an example of the sort of institution Washington thought was doing what institutions should do. The school was founded in 1881 by Lewis Adams (a former slave) and George Campbell (a former slave owner). Booker T. Washington was hired to serve as its first principal--a post he held from 1881 to 1915. The school was originally called The Normal School for Colored Teachers at Tuskegee. Early in its history, the school's name was changed to The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, to reflect the labor training students also took part in at the school. In the Preface to Tuskegee and Its People, Washington listed the sorts of occupational training that students received at the Tuskegee Institute. He wrote: "At the school, in addition to the regular Normal School course of academic work, thirty-six industries are taught the young men and women. These are: Agriculture; Basketry; Blacksmithing; Bee-keeping; Brickmasonry; Plastering; Brick-making; Carpentry; Carriage Trimming; Cooking; Dairying; Architectural, Freehand, and Mechanical Drawing; Dressmaking; Electrical and Steam Engineering; Founding; Harness-making; Housekeeping; Horticulture; Canning; Plain Sewing; Laundering; Machinery; Mattress-making; Millinery; Nurse Training; Painting; Sawmilling; Shoemaking; Printing; Stock-raising; Tailoring; Tinning; and Wheelwrighting."
So yes, the Tuskegee Institute--as was fitting for an educational institution--aimed to produce men and women capable of work!
