special feature
Karen Robertson Tookes Hotel
Born and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, it was a chance encounter that recently brought Karen Robertson to Tallahassee. A successful entrepreneur who started her own business selling high-end marine life decor, it was Karen’s expertise in antiques and her work redesigning historic New England homes that inspired her affinity for historic preservation. She admits to growing up in a bubble where the injustices of segregation weren’t as poignantly discussed as they have been in southern cities such as Tallahassee, an area rich with African-American history. That bubble burst with help from Ronald McCoy, who Karen befriended less than a year ago while he happened to be visiting the New England area. “I saw him sitting at the bar and asked him to dance,” said Karen, “Later he began to tell me the story of his grandmother.” Ronald’s grandmother, Dorothy Nash Tookes, was born in Tallahassee in 1904, and was one of the first African-American women to receive a teaching certificate in the area. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education followed by her nursing education, attending both Alabama’s Talladega College and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU). At the age of 26, she married James Tookes and a few years later started the Tookes Hotel to accommodate African-American travelers who were unable to secure lodging in Tallahassee during 37 tallahassee woman • februar y/march 2016
segregation. Having turned her 6-room home into 17 rooms, the Tookes Hotel served hundreds of guests during its time, including wellknown names such as James Baldwin, Cab Calloway and Ray Charles. Dorothy’s legacy doesn’t end there. A nurse, educator, entrepreneur and mother of two, Dorothy was also the founder and first principal of Bond School, now known as Bond Elementary. A remarkable woman whose achievements largely remain unknown, the Tookes family had always dreamed of revamping the Tookes Hotel. After hearing Dorothy’s story, Karen was nearly ready to make the big move to Tallahassee, but it was a trip to Dorothy’s gravestone that sealed her commitment to the Tookes Hotel restoration project. “There I saw profound words on her tombstone. ‘Let the work I have done speak.’ Those