Tuskegee, Alabama can rightfully call itself Freedom Ground. Rosa Parks, mother of the Civil Rights Movement, was born there. Her attorney, Fred Gray who took on her case at age twenty-four, has fought and won numerous civil rights battles throughout his impressive career.  He remains active with a thriving practice in Tuskegee. Radio personality Tom Joyner, a Tuskegee native, has raised millions for scholarships awarded to students attending historically black universities across the country. Grammy award-winning entertainer, Lionel Richie also was born and raised in Tuskegee. But long before these modern day luminaries emerged, Tuskegee was a dominating presence as the home of Tuskegee University .   Booker T. Washington was the first president of this institution which was founded in the late 1800’s.   By 1906, the school had 156 faculty members, 1,590 students, and owned 2,300 acres of land.  Washington brought the best African-American professionals to join him in his life's work at Tuskegee . Botanist George Washington Carver, Robert Taylor, the first black architect to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and David A. Williston, one of the first black landscape architects in America , were faculty members. Washington appointed highly skilled industrial instructors to teach trades. Emmett Jay Scott became Booker T. Washington's secretary in 1897. Scott became a close advisor to the man he called 'the Wizard' and was instrumental in extending Washington 's power and influence. In the late 1930s, the military selected Tuskegee to train African-American pilots because of its commitment to aeronautical training. It had instructors, facilities, and a climate for year-round flying. George Washington Carver devoted his life to research projects connected primarily with southern agriculture. The products he derived from the peanut and the soybean revolutionized the economy of the South by liberating it from an excessive dependence on cotton. Born a slave in the spring of 1864 in Diamond Grove , Missouri , Carver was only an infant when he and his mother were abducted from his owner's plantation by a band of slave raiders. His mother was sold and shipped away, but Carver was ransomed by his master in exchange for a race horse. While working as a farm hand, Carver managed to obtain a high school education. He was admitted as the first black student of Simpson College , Indianola , Iowa . He then attended Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University ) where, while working as the school janitor, he received a degree in agricultural science in 1894. Two years later he received a master's degree from the same school and became the first African American to serve on its faculty. Within a short time his fame spread and Booker T. Washington offered him a position at Tuskegee University . Carver revolutionized the southern agricultural economy by showing that 300 products could be derived from the peanut. By 1938, peanuts had become a $200 million industry and a chief product of Alabama . Carver also demonstrated that 100 different products could be derived from the sweet potato.  Today, Tuskegee is an ideal tourism destination offering quaint charm, profound heritage experiences and southern hospitality.