Emancipation Oak
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Emancipation Oak
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Emancipation Oak
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| Location | Hampton University |
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| Part of | Hampton Institute |
| NRHP Reference # | 69000323 |
| Added to NRHP | November 12, 1969 |
Emancipation Oak is a historic tree on the campus of Hampton University in what is now the City of Hampton, Virginia in the United States. The large sprawling oak is 98 feet (30 m) in diameter, with branches which extend upward as well as laterally. It is designated one of the 10 Great Trees of the World by the National Geographic Society and is part of the National Historic Landmark district of Hampton University. The tree is a southern live oak (Quercus virginiana).
During the American Civil War (1861 to 1865), Union forces retained control of nearby Fort Monroe and it became a place of refuge for escaped African American slaves seeking asylum. The Army defined them as contraband to avoid returning them to slaveholders. Prior to the Civil War, and following the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in 1831, Virginia law had been changed to prohibit the education of slaves.
In November 1861, the American Missionary Association asked Mary Smith Peake (1823 to 1862) to teach children of freedmen at the contraband camp related to Fort Monroe.(Jones-Wilson et al., 1996). She was said to start her classes outside, under the tree. Peake was the first black teacher of the AMA, which expanded to support numerous educational institutions in the South. Her base was 3 miles from the protective safety of Fort Monroe, but her classes also attracted adults at night. Soon the AMA provided the Brown Cottage for her classes. She taught up to 50 children during the day and 20 adults at night.
In 1863, the Virginia Peninsula's black community gathered under the oak to hear the first Southern reading of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, leading to its nickname as the Emancipation Oak.
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