Tuskegee University Golden Tigers Proud Santa Claus Figurine

For the sons and daughters of Mother Tuskegee, the holiday season has always started on Thanksgiving Day, when the Golden Tigers meet Alabama State in the Turkey Day Classic. The Tuskegee University Golden Tigers Proud Santa Claus Figurine carries that crimson and gold home for Christmas: a 12-inch Black Santa Claus in a crimson knit sweater with the gold T and leaping Golden Tiger across his chest and a TUSKEGEE pennant raised in his hand.

Santa in Crimson and Gold

A red stocking cap with a white faux-fur brim and a gold bell frames Santa's sculpted brown face, rosy cheeks, and full, curly black beard. The sweater's gold-outlined T and leaping tiger are embroidered front and center, and gold pants with white fur cuffs drop to black boots. One hand holds a crimson and white pennant bearing the Golden Tiger logo and the TUSKEGEE name, with a green wreath dotted with red berries. The other carries his naughty and nice list on a long cloth scroll. A gold twisted cord holds the green velvet toy sack over his shoulder, filled with a plush teddy bear, a frosted mini Christmas tree, and a small gold horn.

The Legacy Behind the Golden Tiger

Tuskegee began on July 4, 1881, when the Alabama Legislature chartered the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers, an effort led by Lewis Adams, a formerly enslaved tinsmith, and George W. Campbell. Booker T. Washington arrived as its first teacher and founding principal, opening classes for 30 adult students in a one-room building near Butler Chapel AME Zion Church before moving the school to a former plantation the next year. George Washington Carver led its agriculture department from 1896 for 47 years, teaching Southern farmers to restore cotton-worn soil with peanuts and soybeans. In 1941, training for the Tuskegee Airmen began at nearby Moton Field. The campus was named a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Mother Tuskegee's family includes Gen. Daniel "Chappie" James Jr., class of 1942 and the first Black four-star general; singer Lionel Richie, class of 1974; broadcaster Tom Joyner, class of 1971; Olympic champion Alice Coachman, the first African American woman to win Olympic gold; and author Ralph Ellison, who studied music there in the 1930s. The Marching Crimson Pipers have played since 1883, and every December the Golden Voices Choir sings the campus into the season at the annual Christmas Concert and tree lighting.

Christmas Decor for Mother Tuskegee's Family

Set this African American Santa Claus figurine on the mantel, a bookshelf, an office desk, or the table where the family gathers after the Classic. It makes a Christmas gift that lands with a Tuskegee graduate far from Macon County, a student finishing the fall semester, or the grandparent who still wears crimson and gold every Thanksgiving. Families split between Tuskegee and Alabama State can add the Alabama State Proud Santa and keep the rivalry going through New Year's.