Benson (Kowaliga), Alabama
The primarily Black community of Benson was home to the Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute. Founded by Will Benson in 1897, the school counted Booker T. Washington and Emily Howland among its board of trustees, and W.E.B. Du Bois among its admirers. The school closed in 1926 and the Martin Dam, which inundated part of Benson, was completed the same year. This photograph shows a group of Kowaliga teachers, trained at the Tuskegee Institute.
About this community
- Dam
- Martin Dam
- River
- Tallapoosa River
- Established
- 1890
- Inundated
- 1926