October, 1932 issue of “The Southern Workman” published by the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. Paper wraps, 48 pages (numbered 384-432). Measures 10” tall by 7” wide. Articles include: “Hamlet and the Negro”. “Hungerford School”, “Modern Indian Craftsman”, “Negro Progress and the Phelps-Stokes Fund”. Please see photo of the contents page for a full listing of included articles. “Hampton University is a private historically black university in Hampton, Virginia. 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. It is home to the Hampton University Museum, which is the oldest museum of the African diaspora in the United States, and the oldest museum in the commonwealth of Virginia. In 1878, it established a program for teaching Native Americans that lasted until 1923.
It's journal, the "Southern Workman" (1881-1929), provides information on the historical contributions of African American educators. The journal's goal was to promote understanding and respect between the races, chronicling achievements of its programs and graduates. Many articles trace the development of early care and education programs and the field's emergence as a professional career path for African American women. 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.
The Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, later called the Hampton Institute, was founded in 1868 after the war by the biracial leadership of the AMA, who were chiefly Congregational and Presbyterian ministers. It was first led by former Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. Among the school's famous alumni is Dr. Booker T. Washington, an educator who founded the Tuskegee Institute.”
