After the war, he like all Southerners had to adjust to the New South during the Reconstruction Period under President Andrew Johnson. He married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Clark in 1867 and his daughter Louise was born shortly after. After a period as a law enforcement officer, he went to work as a teacher at a boy's school in Tuskegee. He wanted to reenter the law profession, but he was not allowed to practice in Montgomery as an ex-Southerner. In the meantime, his brother Solon had moved to Pensacola and suggested that James and Sarah follow him. So, it was about this time that he received an offer from a Methodist church to come to Pensacola and take over a new school. They offered him property to build a house for he and his family.
Having come to Pensacola during the war, he liked the quiet Gulf Coast community and decided to accept the offer. He packed up his family and headed south, arriving in Pensacola on August 9, 1877. He took over the newly built one-room school house located in the community of "Powellton" (now Gonzalez). The school was named "School #5" and was later called the "Roberts School." It was the first school ever built outside the city limits of Pensacola and as it grew he asked his sister Helen Mitchell and his brother Solon Reed Tate to come assist him with the academics. Wayne Reed stated in his writings that "some citizens of Pensacola (even) sent their children by train each day to attend this school. Class began with Tate ringing a hand bell as the boys went to the creek for a bucket of water to wash the blackboard.
In the meantime, the girls swept the floor and firewood was brought inside. Afterwards, class began with History, English, Math, Latin, and Spelling before ending at 3:00 PM." He also related that, "sometimes classes were interrupted because Professor Tate was also a lay preacher in the Powellton Methodist Church (now Gonzalez Methodist Church) and he would have to go preach a funeral." At one time, Tate ran against a former fellow Confederate, Nathan Burrell Cook for school superintendent, but lost. After a long, distinguished career in education it finally came time for Professor James Madison Tate to hang up his cap and gown and retire to his home for his twilight years. (Continued in Part III)
An old period classroom similar to that of Professor James M. Tate
Professor Tate lost an election to above fellow soldier
Nathan Burrell Cook for School Superintendent