Former names
|
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute Hampton Institute |
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Motto | "The Standard of Excellence, An Education for Life" |
Type | Private, HBCU |
Established | April 1, 1868 |
Affiliation | None (formerly, American Missionary Association) |
Endowment | $263.2 million |
President | William R. Harvey |
Students | 4,646 |
Undergraduates | 3,836 |
Postgraduates | 810 |
Location |
Hampton, Virginia, U.S. 37°01′19″N 76°20′10″W / 37.022°N 76.336°WCoordinates: 37°01′19″N 76°20′10″W / 37.022°N 76.336°W |
Campus | Suburban, 314 acres (1.27 km2) |
Colors | Reflex Blue & White |
Athletics | NCAA Division I FCS |
Nickname | Pirates |
Affiliations |
MEAC MAISA |
Website | www |
Hampton Institute
|
|
Location | NW of jct. of U.S. 60 and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, Hampton, Virginia |
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Coordinates | 37°01′13″N 76°35′40″W / 37.0203°N 76.5945°W |
Area | 314 acres (127 ha) |
Built | 1866 |
Architect | Richard Morris Hunt; Et al. |
NRHP Reference # | 69000323 |
VLR # | 114-0006 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 12, 1969 |
Designated NHLD | May 30, 1974 |
Designated VLR | September 9, 1969 |
Hampton University (also HU, or Home by the Sea) is a private historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1868 by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen. In 1878, it established a program for teaching Native Americans, which lasted until 1923.
The campus looking south across the harbor of Hampton Roads was founded on the grounds of "Little Scotland", a former plantation in Elizabeth City County not far from Fortress Monroe and the Grand Contraband Camp that gathered nearby. These facilities represented freedom to former slaves, who sought refuge with Union forces during the first year of the war.
The American Missionary Association (AMA) responded in 1861 to the former slaves' need for education by hiring its first teacher, Mary Smith Peake, who had secretly been teaching slaves and free blacks in the area despite the state's prohibition in law. She first taught for the AMA on September 17, 1861 and was said to gather her pupils under a large oak. After the tree was the site of the first reading in the former Confederate states of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it was called the Emancipation Oak. The tree, now a symbol of the university and of the city, is part of the National Historic Landmark District at Hampton University.