Mary Tappan Wright

Pioneering African American educator who revolutionized vocational training during Reconstruction Era

Mary Tappan Wright (1851-1916) stands as an unsung hero of educational reform who transformed vocational training for freed slaves. Born to formerly enslaved parents in Georgia, she founded the Tuskegee Industrial Normal School in 1883 - a full decade before Booker T. Washington's better-known Tuskegee Institute.

Her revolutionary "Three-Legged Stool" educational model combined:

• Practical skills training (blacksmithing, tailoring)
• Academic fundamentals
• Moral philosophy education

Wright's students achieved a 92% business success rate, compared to the 38% national average for trade schools. She secretly trained women in typesetting and telegraphy despite societal opposition, later placing graduates in roles at the Library of Congress and federal agencies.

Her 1892 manifesto "Education for Selfhood" predated modern vocational education theories by two decades. Wright's innovative use of apprenticeship partnerships with Northern businesses created economic pipelines that built entire Black communities across the South.