S O U T H E R N P R O V I N C E
He vividly recalls when he would always hear people saying, “there’s Rella Green’s boy.” He now realizes that this signaled to others that he was okay because of his grandmother, admitting that the community garnered tremendous respect for his grandmother. The moment he remembers most as a student at Shanklin School was when he was a senior and was chosen by the school’s principal, Mr. Joseph S. Shanklin, to drive him and his wife to their college class reunion at Tuskegee Institute. Brother Washington was in awe of the Emery buildings and the other buildings on campus and within Tuskegee. He said that he was “just an ole’ country boy” who, at this time, had never ventured outside the Beaufort area. To him, the buildings were big, and no one could tell him that he wasn’t in the “big city.” After spending a week on Tuskegee’s campus, he fell in love with the place. Back then, Brother Washington could not understand why his principal had taken such a liking to him and chose him, out of all the other students, to drive him to where he now calls “home.” He chalks it up to “some people seeing more in you than you can see in yourself.” An elementary school still bears his principal’s name: Joseph P. Shanklin Elementary School, a constant reminder to the people in the Beaufort area of the role Mr. Shanklin must have played in so many of its residents’ lives – especially in that of Brother Washington’s.
After arriving on Tuskegee’s campus in the summer of 1952, Brother Washington received his work assignment. He worked as a janitor at the renowned John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital, which now serves as the school’s Student Health Center. The hospital’s original intent was to train nursing students and provide care for faculty members. The hospital is now infamously known for its research involvement regarding the “Tuskegee Syphilis Study.” The hospital ran from 1892 until its closing in 1987. Brother Washington’s tireless work ethic was immediately noticed by those delving out work assignments for the “Five-Year- Program.” It was soon decided that Brother Washington needed to concentrate more on his studies. Of course, Brother Washington was quick to point out, working as a janitor was honorable work. His next assigned job was that of Resident Assistant (RA) in one of the on-campus dormitories. His new work assignment afforded him the opportunity to take on more classes and even join theAir Force ROTC.
Upon his return back to South Carolina, he began completing applications to enter Tuskegee Institute. He was prayerfully accepted into the “Five-Year- Program” in the study ofAgriculture. He ecstatically shared the news with his “hometown buddies” who thought he was “crazy to go to school for five years.” To Brother Washington, not any amount of razzing from his buddies, would derail his desire to return back to Tuskegee. Tuskegee, Alabama, over 330 miles from his hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina, required transportation expenses which presented an obstacle for Brother Washington. He recollected his worries about getting off to college and how the discussion went between him and his grandmother. Before the conversation was over, his grandmother reached into her “bosom,” where she kept her money and gave him the money for his one-way Greyhound bus ticket to Tuskegee. “some people seeing more in you than you can see in yourself”
John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital Tuskegee University
31 November 2021| T H E K H R O N I C L E
C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Conference
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