This article is the seventh in a series commemorating the American Evolution – Virginia to America 1619-2019 . See articles one, two, three, four, five ,and six here.
Many of the early settlers in Virginia were well educated. While it became commonplace for the highest placed colonists to send their sons back home to England for a “proper” (that is Oxford or Cambridge) education, from early on the Virginia colonists recognized that the long-term success of the colony depended on a widely educated populace. This urge to educate its citizenry prompted leaders in Hampton to establish America’s first public school in 1634. Founded as Syms School, the institution was established to provide free education to local children. Twenty-five years later, the success of Syms School encouraged the subsequent founding of Eaton Charity School to educate the poor students of Elizabeth City County (now defunct, the county merged with Hampton in 1952). The two schools combined in 1805, and still exist as Hampton High School since it was re-formed in 1875. So through the centuries, Virginia has made notable strides towards and established national precedents for improving education, furthering the Commonwealth’s goals of promoting democracy and opportunity for its citizens. Four travel-worthy educational sites across the state provide a sense of Virginia’s rich tradition of furthering the innovation and evolution of education in the New World.—THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY—

—THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA—


—HAMPTON UNIVERSITY—
While Virginia made early groundbreaking strides in education as a means for increasing opportunity for its citizens, a large segment of its population were still denied access to education of any kind. The South’s onerous laws against enslaved Africans prohibited teaching them to read, effectively closing the door to even a rudimentary formal education, much less a college degree. This changed in the Reconstruction Period when a group of black and white social reformers established Hampton University in 1868, a mere three years after the Civil War ended, to provide a broad range of academic disciplines to newly freed Black Americans. The institution has educated a staggering list of American leaders, including academic pioneer Booker T. Washington, groundbreaking NASA engineer Mary Jackson and Sylvia Trent-Adams, the first Black nurse to serve as U.S. Surgeon General. Disregarding the state’s pre-war prohibition concerning teaching Black Americans, in 1861 Mary Smyth Peak, a member of an elite antebellum black family in Hampton, began secretly teaching black students under an oak tree on what is now Hampton University’s campus. After the war, Peak was hired by the American Missionary Union to help found Hampton University. Later, another oak growing on the same grounds served as a rallying point as Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was read aloud to the black residents of Hampton under its branches. The tree under which the Emancipation was read remains a focal point on Hampton University’s campus. Known as the Emancipation Oak, the tree stands as a living symbol of strength, perseverance and endurance. Across campus, a studied stroll through the Hampton University Museum provides a moving testimony to the struggle and ultimate triumph of equal education for all Virginia citizens. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Hampton offers many other cultural assets, including the remarkable Virginia Air & Space Center at NASA Langley Research Center and Air Force Base. The center is a world-class aeronautics museum with hundreds of family friendly interactive displays and hands-on exhibits. The Hampton History Museum invites you to explore four centuries of American history, beginning with the early days of the Virginia Colony.—ROBERT RUSSO MOTON MUSEUM—

—A DISTINGUISHED LEGACY OF EDUCATION—
