The Tuskegee Chapel was originally built in 1896. It was a gift from the Misses Olivia & Caroline Phelps-Stokes of New York City. It was designed by Robert R. Taylor; the first black person to receive an architecture degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Chapel was composed of 1,200,000 student made bricks. The students helped construct the Chapel as well as many other buildings on campus to help fund their tuition. Students felt great love for the hard work and dedication towards the completion of the building. Anne Campbell Stark, placed her feelings about the Chapel in a poem named The Chapel which read, “The students make their way in the half light. The Chapel bells are ringing, and the sound of organ music mingles with the night, and hurries youthful feet across the ground. The Chapel is the heartbeat of the school. It sends its lifeblood into many lands. The Pilgrims come here to watch the upright Rule. That works its ma
gic where the Chapel stands. The singing windows with their jeweled panes; depict ancient race in its long climb. We cannot count the failures and the gains; we only know how the struggle is sublime. The voices lift in glorious acclaim. Peace in this Chapel quickly glows and spreads. United in the saying of God’s name; we catch its vision as we bow our heads.” It was the first building in Macon County to have electric light. In 1932, the chancel windows were added to enhance the beauty of the building. Later the windows became known as “The Singing Windows.” It adopted the name because eleven Negro Spirituals were engraved in the panes of the of the stained glass which read, “Go Down Moses, Way Down in Egypt Land”, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Comin’ for to Carry Me Home”, “Deep River, My Home Is Over Jordan”, “Over into Camp Ground”, “Comin’ for to Carry Me Home”, “My Lord What a Mournin’, When the Stars Begins
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