Hampton City Schools A History of the Origins of Schools Names

A History of the Origins of Schools’ Names: Committee Members Alma Dietz, HCS Social Studies K-12 Curriculum Leader: Committee Chair Luci Cochran, Executive Director, Hampton History Museum Beth Austin, Registrar & Historian, Hampton History Museum Charles Baumgardner, Social Studies Elementary Teacher Specialist Beth Leatherwood, Secondary Teacher Specialist Rodney Richardson, Phenix PreK-8 Assistant Principal EARLY CHILDHOOD Robert R Moton (1867-1940) ● Opened in 1948 ● It was named after Robert Russa Moton, who was born in Amelia County, Virginia He is buried at Hampton University ● At the age of 18, Moton enrolled at Hampton Institute ● He graduated in 1890 and became the Commandant in charge of military discipline (remained for 25 years) ● He was a close friend of Booker T Washington, the founding principal of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and the two shared a conservative vision of race relations ● Dr Moton was named president of Tuskegee Institute following the death of Dr Booker T Washington ● Both the physical plant and academic programs were expanded during the Moton administration ● Moton was honored as one of the speakers for the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., May 30, 1922, and his contributions to humankind earned him honorary degrees from Oberlin and Williams College, Virginia Union, Wilberforce, Lincoln, Harvard, and Howard Universities He was recipient of the Harmon Award in Race Relations (1930) and the Spingarn Medal (1932) ● Moton resigned from his presidency in 1935 because of declining health and died years later ● The school was named after Moton and opened in 1948 after the Phoebus branch of the NAACP was asked to negotiate with the town of Phoebus and Elizabeth City County ● In 2005, the school became home to preschool students as the Robert R Moton Early Childhood Center participating in the Virginia Preschool Initiative ● Moton School Mascot: Falcon ● Sources: ○ “Robert Russa Moton,” Encyclopedia Virginia: Virginia Humanities, accessed August 10, 2020 ○ “Robert Russa Moton: Second President of Tuskegee Institute,” Tuskegee University, accessed August 10, 2020 ○ “Moton School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Aberdeen ● The original school was built in 1938 ● It was demolished and rebuilt in 1973 ● Named after Aberdeen Gardens, a New Deal planned community initiated by Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), designed specifically for the resettlement of African-American workers in Newport News and Hampton ● In 1934, the Hampton Institute secured a $245,000 federal grant to create the housing development ● It was the only resettlement community for blacks in Virginia and only the second neighborhood in the nation for blacks financed by President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Subsistence Homestead Project ● It was added to the Virginia Landmark Register on March 10, 1994 and the National Register of Historical Places on May 26, 1994 ● Aberdeen School Mascot: Lion ● School Plaque ● Sources: ○ “Aberdeen Elementary School: About Us,” Hampton City Schools, accessed June 29, 2020 ○ “Aberdeen Gardens: Hampton VA, “ The Living New Deal, accessed June 29, 2020 ○ St John Erickson, 2018, "Hampton University at 150: Aberdeen Gardens built by blacks, for blacks", The Daily Press, March 31 Armstrong ● It was built in 1922 and is Hampton’s oldest continuous school ● The school was named in honor of the Armstrong family The school stands today on land donated by the children of William Nevins Armstrong, the brother of Hampton Institute founder Gen Samuel Chapman Armstrong ● General Samuel Chapman Armstrong was a Union General during the Civil War who led African American troops ● After the Civil War, Samuel Chapman Armstrong joined the Freedmen’s Bureau and with the help of the American Missionary Association would go on to establish Hampton Institute ● Armstrong School Mascot: Lion ● Sources: ○ “About Armstrong School for the Arts 2017,” Hampton City Schools, accessed June 29, 2020 ○ William Nevins Armstrong Papers (MS 39) Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/3016 Accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Samuel Chapman Armstrong,” Hampton University, accessed June 29, 2020 ○ St John Erickson, 2018, ‘Hampton University at 150: Visionary educator founded landmark school’, The Daily Press, March 24 Francis Asbury ● School opened in 1916 with additions in 1937 and 1954 ● Fire damaged the school in 1963 but it was rebuilt in 1964 ● Named after Francis Asbury (1745-1816), a preacher in the Methodist Church who was ordained by John Wesley ● Came from England in 1771 to preach in the British American Colonies and was neutral during the American Revolution ● In 1784 he was ordained as a bishop of the Methodist Church in America and served in that capacity until his death in 1816 ● Interesting side note: In 1780, Asbury met the freedman, Henry Hosier, a meeting the minister believed to be "providentially arranged" Hosier served as Asbury’s driver and guide and, though illiterate, memorized long passages of the Bible as Asbury read them aloud during their travels Hosier eventually became a famous preacher in his own right, the first African American to preach directly to a white congregation in the United States ● Asbury School Mascot: Fox ● Sources: ○ “Francis Asbury 2020,” Wikipedia, accessed June 29, 2020 ○ “Francis Asbury: Methodist on Horseback,” Christianity Today, accessed August 6, 2020 ○ “Harry Hosier: An American Who Gave a Beat to Methodist Preaching,” Archives & History The United Methodist Church, accessed August 6, 2020 Barron ● Barron Elementary School opened in 1961 ● Barron Elementary was named to honor the Barron family, an old Hampton family with origins that go back to the 17th century, of which several members in succeeding generations made significant contributions to the history of our city, state, and nation ● Family members served from the early Virginia Navy serving in the American Revolution to the U.S Navy up to the Civil War ● Captain Samuel Barron came to Virginia from Bristol, England in the 17th century He was placed in command of Fort George (now known as Fort Monroe) He died in 1750 leaving sons ● The youngest son, James Barron (1740-1787), was appointed by Thomas Jefferson (Virginia’s governor) to command Virginia’s Navy in 1779 ● When James Barron died in 1787, he left sons, Samuel and James Both joined the Virginia Navy and would eventually join the United States Navy in 1798 ● Samuel Barron (1809-1888), a grandson of James Barron, was a U.S Naval officer who resigned his commission to join the Confederate Navy in May, 1861 His rank in the Confederate Navy was first as a captain and then promoted to commodore He, and his son, Samuel Barron, Jr (1836-1892) both served in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War ● Members of the Barron family were slave owners ● Barron School Mascot: Knight (See photo of a knight holding a sword and shield on school website) ● Sources: ○ Barron Elementary School 2017, Hampton City Schools, accessed 29 June 2020, ○ Spencer, W F., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography Samuel Barron (1809–1888) (2020, January 9) In Encyclopedia Virginia Retrieved from ○ “Deposition of William Cooper and Anne Cooper describing a fugitive slave of James Barron,” Hampton Museum Archives, catalog number 2016.1.7 accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Samuel Barron (Jr.),” Find a Grave Memorial, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Inventory of the James Barron Papers (1) 1776-1899,” Swem Library, College of William & Mary, , accessed 13 August 2020 ○ “Inventory of the James Barron Hope Papers (II) 1820-1923,” Swem Library, College of William & Mary, , accessed 13 August 2020 ○ “James Barron,” Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S Navy, , accessed 13 August 2020 ○ Property tax lists, Elizabeth City County, 1782-1787, 1798, 1790 ○ Robert Armistead Stewart, The History of Virginia’s Navy in the Revolution, (Richmond, Va.: Mitchell & Hotchkiss, 1934), 144-148 A.W.E Bassette ● School opened in 1970 ● Named after Andrew Walter Ernest Bassette (1857-1942) ● He rose from an impoverished background to become an educator, lawyer, businessman, civic and religious leader ● Born November 1857, possibly enslaved ● He entered the teaching profession after graduating from Hampton Institute in 1876 ● In 1895, he founded one of the first schools for African-American children ● Was a founder of the Peoples’ Building and Loan Association to aid AfricanAmericans in the community to secure loans for property ● His granddaughter, Rachel Noel, was a politician and civil rights leader in Colorado ● Bassette School Mascot: Panda ● Sources: ○ “Andrew W E Bassette (1857–1942),” Encyclopedia Virginia, accessed August 6, 2020 ○ “Rachel Noel (1918-2008),” Denver Public Library, accessed August 6, 2020 ○ “Bassette Elementary School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Booker ● The Hampton School Board decided in the early 1960s to build the school to accommodate the rapidly growing elementary school population in this area ● The School Board wished to name the school after a Hampton family that had shown a great deal of interest in education and wanted to make their community a better place, especially for children They selected the Booker family ● Booker school opened in 1968 ● Named after the Booker family with origins that go back to 1621 ● The origin of the Booker family began when Captain Thomas Purifoy came over on the ship “George” in 1621 In 1631, he purchased 500 acres of land on the northwest branch of the Back River in Elizabeth County, which later became part of Hampton ● One of Captain Purifoy’s descendants married Captain Richard Booker (17231764) and from this marriage, George Booker (1747-1816) was born This George Booker was very prominent in the educational affairs of the county He was a trustee of the Syms-Eaton Charity School, the first public school in the English colonies He also fought on the side of the patriots during the American Revolution ● In 1781, George Booker acquired Sherwood Plantation and in 1782, he had twenty-seven slaves, four horses and mules, and eighty-one cattle The number of enslaved people owned by the Bookers at Sherwood increased until the Civil War ● From this descendant came George Booker (1805-1868) ● He was a trustee of the Hampton Academy in Hampton and in 1852, when it became part of the public-school system George Booker became Elizabeth City ● ● ● ● ● ● ● County’s first superintendent (Elizabeth City County would merge with the City of Hampton) In 1805, the Syms and Eaton schools were combined into Hampton Academy, which existed in a few different forms until 1902, when it became the Syms-Eaton Academy George Booker would go on to volunteer with the Confederate Army in 1861 and serve as a quartermaster with the rank of major under the Confederate general, J B Magruder Three of George Booker’s sons, George S Booker, (1844-1899), John Booker (1849-1900), and Richard Marshall Booker (1839-1898) also joined the Confederate Army George S Booker had a son, George S Booker Jr (1876-1915) who died at the age of 39 Not much is known about him but he was born after the Civil War He along with ancestors of Major George Booker are buried in St John’s Cemetery near the Ruppert Sargent building Interesting side note: State Senator, Hunter Booker Andrews, was a descendant of the Booker family He served as Chairman of the Hampton School Board from 1959 to 1962 Booker School Mascot: Bulldog Sources: ○ Booker Elementary School 2018, Hampton City Schools, accessed 29 June 2020, ○ “Major George Booker,” Hampton Museum Archives, accessed August 11, 2020 ○ “Major George Booker,” Find A Grave Memorial, accessed August 11, 2020 ○ “Sherwood Plantation,” NASA, accessed August 11, 2020 ○ “Richard Marshall Booker,” Hampton History Museum Archives, accessed August 11, 2020 ○ “John Booker,” Hampton History Museum Archives, accessed August 11, 2020 ○ Jean von Schilling, Booker: Descendants of Captain Richard Booker of Abingdon Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia (Richmond, Va.: 1996) ○ Property tax lists, Elizabeth City County, 1782-1787, 1798 ○ Elizabeth City County Slave Schedules, U.S Federal Census, 1850 and 1860 Jane H Bryan ● The school opened in 1955 ● Named after Jane H Bryan (1864-1946), an educator in Phoebus, in honor of her life-long contribution to public education ● She taught for 36 years and retired in 1938 ● She was also active in community activities and in Emmanuel Episcopal Church, where she taught Sunday School for fifty-seven years ● Born in England, she immigrated to Phoebus with her parents and started teaching in the public schools in 1902 ● Died in 1946 and the school was dedicated to her in 1955 ● Bryan School Mascot: Patriot ● Sources: ○ “Jane H Bryan Elementary School,“ Hampton City Schools, accessed June 29, 2020 ○ “Bryan Elementary School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Paul Burbank ● School opened in 1966 ● Named after Dr Paul Burbank (1896-1960), a dentist, civic leader, and Hampton school board member ● He was born and raised in Hampton ● He served in the Army during World War I and returned to Hampton where he practiced dentistry for 42 years ● Was a member of local school boards from 1941 to 1956 ● He resided on Chesapeake Avenue in Hampton and died in 1960 His wife, Fannie, survived him by 31 years ● Burbank School Mascot: Bulldog ● Sources: ○ “Dr Paul Burbank,” Find a Grave Memorial, accessed June 29, 2020 ○ “Burbank Elementary School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 John B Cary ● The school opened in 1958 ● Named after John B (Baytop) Cary (1819-1898) ● The School Board at the time, named it after him for Cary’s contribution to education ● Graduated from William and Mary in 1839 with a Masters of Arts ● Teacher at Hampton Academy until the 1850s, when he formed a new Hampton Academy (later Hampton Military Academy) and acted as principal until the Civil War ● When the Civil War broke out, he was commissioned as a Confederate major and served as commander of the 32nd Virginia Infantry He then served as Acting Provost Marshall at Yorktown in early 1862 Cary was dropped at the May 1862 re-organization and appointed as AAG & IG to General Magruder in August 1862 When Magruder was sent west, Cary served in the Quartermaster Department until the end of the Civil War ● Confederate Major Cary was the officer who went to Union General Benjamin Butler and requested the return of the slaves that fled to Fort Monroe citing the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S Constitution That is when General Butler came up with the famous “Contraband Decision.” ● Was prominent in the effort to turn the White House of the Confederacy from a public school into the Confederate Memorial Literary Society (now the Museum of the Confederacy) He was on the Board of Trustees, Confederate Memorial Committee of Virginia; Board of Directors, Virginia State Penitentiary ● John B Cary was a slave owner ● After the war, he served as Storekeeper for the Virginia State Penitentiary, a grocer, a Manager for the Life Association of America in 1871, and Agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co in 1878 ● He also served as Member, Board of Aldermen, City of Richmond from 18901894 and as Superintendent of Richmond Public Schools ● Cary School Mascot: Cardinal ● Sources: ○ “Hampton Has A School Named After a Confederate Officer,” Daily Press accessed August 11, 2020 ○ “John Baytop Cary”, The American Civil War Museum accessed August 11, 2020 ○ “John Baytop Cary,” Archives, accessed ○ “Contraband of War: Opening of the Flood Gates,” Civil War Emancipation Word Press, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Guide to American Manuscripts (Cary Family Papers, page 39),” Virginia History, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Cary, John Baytop,” The American Civil War Museum, accessed August 13, 2020 ○ Robert Francis Engs, Freedom’s First Generation: Black Hampton, Virginia 1861-1890, 2nd ed (New York: Fordham University Press, 2004) ○ Elizabeth City County Slave Schedules, U.S Federal Census, 1860 William Mason Cooper ● Cooper school opened in 1974 ● Named after Dr William Mason Cooper (1892-1979), the first African-American to serve on the Hampton School Board beginning in 1962, including a term as vice-chair ● He was born in Hampton and played a vital role in the integration of the Hampton City schools ● The Hampton school is one of three schools in Virginia, North Carolina and Nova Scotia dedicated to the educator ● He attended Hampton Institute and Columbia University ● Held a variety of educational jobs/positions in NC, including dean of instruction at Elizabeth City Teachers College ● He was a specialist in adult education ● Dr Cooper was the director of extension at Hampton Institute as well as director of summer school, research and public relations, and professor of education and registrar from 1929–1950 ● He was a faculty member of Virginia State College in Norfolk, and held leadership positions in many national organizations, including the Virginia Society for Research, the Virginia Interracial Commission, American Teachers Association and Conference on Adult Education ● Cooper School Mascot: Cougar ● Sources: ○ “William Mason Cooper,” page 4, 2020 Hampton Heroes, accessed August 11, 2020 ○ “William Mason Cooper,” page 134, Who’s Who in Colored America, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Cooper Elementary School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Alfred S Forrest ● Originally named Bethel Elementary when it opened during the 1956-57 school year When Bethel High School opened in 1969, Bethel Elementary was renamed ● It was renamed after Alfred Sylvester Forrest (1890-1970) ● He graduated from William & Mary and served as principal of Wythe Elementary School beginning in 1923 ● Served as principal for both schools, when George Wythe junior high school was built in grounds adjoining the elementary school ● He became principal of the new George Wythe Junior High when it opened for the 1950-51 school year Remained there until his retirement in the early 1960’s ● Past president of the Hampton Rotary Club, as well as a WWI Navy veteran ● Forrest School Mascot: Ranger (Image shows bear wearing a forest ranger uniform) ● Sources: ○ “Alfred S Forrest, ”Find a Grave Memorial,” accessed 20 August 2020 ○ “Forrest Elementary School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Christopher Kraft ● Opened in 1966 ● Named for Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr (1924-2019), who was born in Phoebus ● Upon graduation from Virginia Tech, he was hired by NACA (located in Hampton, VA), the predecessor to NASA ● After working for over a decade in aeronautical research, he joined the Space Task Group, a small team entrusted with the responsibility of putting America's first man in space ● Assigned to the flight operations division, he became NASA's first flight director ● Was on duty during such historic missions as America's first crewed spaceflight, first crewed orbital flight, and first spacewalk ● Was very active in the Episcopal church and served as a lay reader ● Kraft School Mascot: Cubs ● Sources: ○ “Christopher Kraft Obituary”, The Guardian, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “NASA Remembers Legendary Flight Director Chris Kraft," NASA, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Kraft Elementary School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Samuel P Langley ● Langley school was built in 1942 by the federal government to serve the families of the N.A.C.A., now known as N.A.S.A ● Named after Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906), an aviator and a physicist who was a pioneer in the development of the airplane ● Samuel Langley served as a professor of physics and astronomy and was also the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C ● Mr Langley's accomplishments were honored in many ways The first aircraft carrier was named after him in 1920 Langley Air Force Base also bears his name ● Langley School Mascot: Leopard ● Sources: ○ “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” Wikipedia, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Samuel Pierpont Langley, Smithsonian Institution Archives, accessed August 12, 2020 ○ “Langley Elementary School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Luther Machen ● Opened in 1969 10 ● Tarrant School Mascot: Bulldog ● Sources: ○ “Tarrant Middle School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ William Waller Hening, Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia, vol 13 (Philadelphia: 1823), p 102 HIGH SCHOOLS Bethel ● According to Wikipedia, “Bethel was named after the geographic area of Bethel and also after the Civil War battle of Big Bethel” According to Hampton City Schools: How Our Past Defines Our Future, “Bethel was named according to geographical or historical significance in accordance with the school board policy in effect at the time” ● Bethel High School was built in 1968 to handle the overflow of Hampton High School and Kecoughtan High School ● The name “Bethel” is derived from an early church located in the area The church was large enough that it could accommodate the entire community The name can be attributed to biblical influences deemed very significant in the New World ● Later another church was built and called Little Bethel to distinguish it from the larger church ● The name “Big Bethel” may have been forgotten entirely had it not been for the Battle of Big Bethel fought during the Civil War It resulted in a Confederate victory ● Bethel School Mascot: Bruin (bear) ● Sources: ○ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethel_High_School_(Virginia) ○ “Bethel High School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Hampton ● Traces its roots from Syms-Eaton Academy and later Hampton Academy ● In 1805, the Syms and Eaton schools were merged by an act of the General Assembly and called Hampton Academy The school existed in several forms and included the Hampton High School by the 1890s ● First graduating class was in 1896 ● Current school opened in 1922 ● Hampton High School Mascot: Crabbers (crab) ● Source: 19 ○ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_High_School_(Virginia) ○ “Hampton High School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Kecoughtan ● The school opened in 1963 to handle overflow from Hampton High School ● Named after the Kecoughtan Indian tribe ● In 1607, when the English colonists landed in what is known as Hampton, they were treated as visitors and negotiating partners by the Kecoughtan Indians The relationship between the English and Kecoughtans was more peaceful than with most other Powhatan Indian chiefdoms ● In 1610, the English made an unprovoked attack on the Kecoughtans, claiming they were avenging the death of an Englishman (not killed by the Kecoughtans) but in reality, seizing their land because of its strategic significance and to take their crops On July 9, 1610, English soldiers used a musician to draw the Kecoughtan Indians from their home and attacked, killing 15 right away and seriously or fatally wounding many others The survivors were driven from their land, and the English began using their crops and houses and built a new fortification around the seized town ● Kecoughtan School Mascot: Warrior (See image on marquee on school website) ● Sources: ○ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_High_School_(Virginia) ○ William Strachey, “A True Repertory of the Wreck and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, Upon and from the Islands of the Bermudas; His Coming to Virginia, and the Estate of That Colony Then, and after under the Government of Lord La Warre, July 15, 1610.” ○ George Percy, “A True Relation of the Proceedings and Occurrents of Moment which have Happened in Virginia from the Time Sir Thomas Gates was shipwrecked upon the Bermudas, anno 1609, until my Departure out of the Country, which was Anno Domini 1612.” ○ “A Brief Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia during the First Twelve Years, when Sir Thomas Smith was Governor of the Company, and down to this Present Time, by the Ancient Planters now Remaining Alive in Virginia.” ○ J Frederick Fausz, Ph.D., The Day Kicotan Became Hampton: England’s First Indian War, 1609-1614 (Hampton: Port Hampton Press, 2010) ○ Jeanne Eller McDougall, Ph.D., “Meeting, Merriment, and Massacre: Musical Encounters between Kikotans and English, 1607-1610,” 20 Commonplace: The Journal of Early American Life, volume 13, no (Winter 2013) ○ Helen C Rountree, Pocahontas’ People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries (Norman, Ok.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990), 54 Phoebus ● Phoebus High School opened during the 1975-76 school year ● Named after the geographic area of Phoebus which is named after Harrison Phoebus (1840-1886) ● Served in the Union Army ● Was an American 19th century entrepreneur and hotelier who became the leading citizen of Phoebus ● Became the community’s railroad agent and acquired the Hygeia Hotel, formerly located at Fort Monroe ● The success of the luxury hotel enriched the surrounding town and as a result, the town was renamed to Phoebus ● Phoebus School Mascot: Phantom ● Sources: ○ "Harrison Phoebus", Hampton History Museum Archives accessed August 6, 2020 ○ “Phoebus High School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 PRE-K-8 SCHOOLS Hunter B Andrews ● Opened in 2010 ● Named after Hunter B Andrews (1921-2005) ● Born in Hampton VA ● Graduated from the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia Law School ● Served as an Ensign in the United States Navy during World War II in the Pacific theater ● Served as Chair of the Hampton School Board during Integration (opposed massive resistance) ● State Senator from Hampton Virginia (1972-1996) (longest serving senator in state's history) ● Senate Majority Leader 1980-1995 ● Served on the Board of Visitors of the College of William & Mary 21 ● Referred to as the champion for education (channeled billions of dollars into public education ● Helped to establish WHRO-TV ● Interesting side note: State Senator, Hunter Booker Andrews, was a descendant of the Booker family He served as Chairman of the Hampton School Board from 1959 to 1962 ● Andrews School Mascot: Alligator (gator) ● Sources: ○ “Hunter B Andrews: About Us, History,” Hampton City Schools, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “Hunter B Andrews,” Wikipedia, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “Andrews PreK-8 School,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 George P Phenix ● George P Phenix PreK-8 school opened in 2010 ● The origins of the current PreK-8 school can be traced back to three previous schools: 1) George P Phenix Training School (Hampton Institute campus), 2) George P Phenix High School (LaSalle Avenue), built in 1962, and 3) an elementary school (formerly the old George Wythe Junior High) which was renamed to George P Phenix Elementary School ● All of these schools in addition to the new PreK-8 school were named after George P (Perly) Phenix (1864-1930) for his devotion to providing better educational opportunities for African- Americans ● Dr Phenix was a principal of the State Normal School in Willimantic, Connecticut ● Moved to Hampton, VA to teach at Hampton Institute (University) in 1904 ● Became vice president of Hampton Institute (1908) ● Became president of Hampton Institute (1928-1930) ● Campaigned before the State Board of Education to build a new school ● As a result, in 1930, construction began on a new school Funding for the school project came from a Virginia State Board of Education grant and financial support from Hampton Institute ● Dr Phenix died in a drowning accident six months before the school opened in 1931 and the school was named in his honor ● Phenix Training school was a three-story building owned by Hampton Institute and located on their campus It housed grammar and high school students who were transferred from Whittier Elementary and Union High School ● It was a “teaching laboratory” for Hampton Institute college students who were required to teach as student teachers at the school in order to earn their degree ● In 1940, Hampton Institute leased the Phenix building to the Elizabeth City County School system (now Hampton City Schools) It served as a public high 22 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● school for African- American students living in the area It continued to serve as a teaching ground and the grammar school also remained In 1954 when the U S Supreme Court ruling struck down the separate but equal segregation laws with Brown v Board of Education, black citizens urged the city to build a new high school for black children The city of Hampton was slow to act Hampton Institute brought the issue to the forefront when it refused to allow the Hampton School Board to renew the lease to use the Phenix School building An agreement was reached to build a new high school on LaSalle Avenue to be named the George P Phenix High School It was opened in 1962 at a cost of $1.5 million Despite the Brown v the Board of Education ruling, the new Phenix High School was still predominantly black In 1967 the Hampton School Board decided to fully integrate all public schools A resolution was approved that no high school could be named after a person and that all high schools would be named after the district that it was located in Some George Phenix Alumni believe that it was the school board’s way of saying that Phenix would have to change its name for the sake of integration But many believed the decision was based on an opinion that bussing white students to Phenix (a predominantly black school) would cause civil unrest Although George Perley Phenix was white, many stigmatized the school as a black school During the summer of 1968 the school's name was changed to Pembroke High School The school would eventually close in 1980 and is currently utilized as the Social Services and YMCA building As a concession, in 1968, the school board re-named and repurposed the old George Wythe Junior High into George P Phenix Elementary School It closed during the 1978-79 school year, and was demolished in 1984 It was located on the intersection of Catalpa and Shell Road in the Wythe area of the city NOTE from Beth Austin, Hampton History Museum registrar and historian: “I wanted to add a note on the history of school renaming in Hampton with regards to racial justice The main reason the School System adopted its school naming policy in 1967 was to eliminate the name of George P Phenix High School when the school integrated Originally, the all-black school was operated by Hampton Institute, where Phenix had been principal Eventually, the City assumed administration of the school and leased the building from Hampton Institute After the Supreme Court's Brown v Board decision, Hampton Institute refused to renew the lease unless Hampton integrated its schools Instead of choosing to fully integrate and renew the lease, Hampton City Schools built a new Phenix High School It remained a Black school until 1968, when it was integrated 23 However, rather than sending white students to a formerly Black school, the school system developed its new naming policy and the name was changed to Pembroke Today, Phenix alumni regard the renaming (and the disposal by the City of its Phenix history) as deeply unjust and discriminatory The new 1967 school naming policy also caused other schools to be renamed beginning in the 1968-69 school year, and the name Phenix was given to a new elementary school The history of the school system's expenditures to maintain segregation in constructing a new Phenix High School, and to develop a new policy and undertake renaming in order to eliminate the formerly Black high school, is a sharp contrast to the current discussion about removing names that honor Confederates, enslavers, or white supremacists ● Phenix School Mascot: Panther ● Sources: ○ Daily Press: May 1959, 12 May 1959, May 1960, 14 August 1960, 31 March 1966, 26 October 1967, 26 September 1968 ○ Norfolk Journal & Guide: October 1960, 22 April 1961, 23 December 1967, 15 June 1968 ○ “The Phenix High School Story,” Phenix Alumni Association, accessed 13 August 2020 ○ “Site of George Wythe Junior High School (Hampton, Virginia),” Wikimapia, accessed 14 August 2020 ○ “ The Forgotten Phenix School,” Phenix Legacy Reception Program Book page 20, accessed 14 August 2020 ○ “The George P Phenix Timeline,” Phenix Alumni Association, accessed 14 August 2020 OTHER Bridgeport Academy ● No information is available about the reason for its name ● Bridgeport Academy School Mascot: Bronco ● Source: ○ “Bridgeport Academy,” How Our Past Defines Our Future, accessed August 14, 2020 Patriot Center ● Formerly named Cesar Tarrant which then became the new name conferred to the former Jefferson Davis middle school Hampton City Schools Adult and Alternative Learning Center 24 ● It was formerly named the Campus at Lee (Robert E Lee) and before that was Robert E Lee Elementary school ● In December 2017, the Hampton school board voted to remove its name and change it to this name ● Sources: ○ Hampton Removes Robert E Lee’s Name from Campus.” Daily Press, accessed August 14, 2020 RECENTLY CLOSED SCHOOLS Merrimack ● Merrimack opened in 1966 and closed in 2012 as a cost saving measure ● Named for the ship which became the Confederate ironclad warship C.S.S Virginia ● After sustaining damage, the Merrimack was repaired and on March 8, 1862, rechristened C.S.S Virginia ● During the Civil War, the C.S.S Virginia destroyed the Cumberland and Congress, two powerful Union naval vessels ● Overnight, the new Union ironclad, Monitor, appeared in Hampton Roads The two ironclads battled to a draw ● There is currently a historical marker located at the end of the intersection of East Avenue and Chesapeake Avenue denoting the approximate location where this battle occurred ● Sources: ○ “Hampton School Board Votes to Close Merrimack Elementary School,” Daily Press, accessed August 6, 2020 ○ “Battle of Hampton Roads,” History, accessed August 6, 2020 Francis Mallory ● Opened in 1959 and closed in 2010 as a cost saving measure and was rented out to the Head Start program ● Named after Francis Mallory (1807-1860) ● He was born in Elizabeth County, VA (now Hampton) and attended Hampton Academy ● Served in the U.S Navy from 1822-1828 beginning as a midshipman ● Dr Mallory graduated from University of Pennsylvania medical school in Philadelphia in 1831 and practiced in Norfolk, Virginia ● Elected as a U.S Congressman Elected to represent Virginia's 1st, 10th and 11th Districts in the U.S House of Representatives for the Whig party 25 ● Also served as State Court Judge and a member of the Virginia State Legislature ● He successfully lobbied before the State Legislature for a railroad line to Norfolk ● His son, Colonel Francis Mallory, Jr., fought on the Confederate side and was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville ● Source: ○ “Francis Mallory,” Wikipedia, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “Francis Mallory,” Find A Grave Memorial, accessed August 14, 2020 Mary Peake ● Mary Peake opened in 1961and was closed in 2010 ● Was named after Hampton educator and humanitarian, Mary Peake (1823-1862) ● Mary S Peake was born in Norfolk, the daughter of a free black woman and a prominent Englishman ● In 1847, she moved with her family to Hampton While supporting herself as a seamstress, she secretly began teaching from her home, instructing African Americans of all ages ● She also founded the Daughters of Zion to provide aid to the poor and the sick ● In 1851 she married Thomas Peake, a former slave ● The Peake family home was destroyed when Confederate forces burned Hampton Many of the displaced African American families from Hampton were forced to seek refuge at nearby Fort Monroe ● In 1861, Peake started a school near the fortress to teach the freed enslaved people It was within the present grounds of Hampton University and she is believed to have conducted classes under Emancipation Oak ● Her enrollment grew from six to more than fifty students in a matter of days ● Peake was a dedicated educator, creating a school for adults in the evenings and continuing to teach despite failing health ● She died of tuberculosis in February 1862 ● Her school was one of the first of its kind and served as a model for a number of other schools that taught African-Americans throughout the South in Unionoccupied territory ● Sources: ○ “Meet Mrs Peake,” Virginia is for Learners, August 6, 2020 ○ “Mary Peake,” Wikipedia, accessed August 6, 2020 ○ “Mary Peake,” Virginia Changemakers, accessed August 6, 2020, https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/3 ○ “Emancipation Oak,” Hampton University, accessed August 6, 2020 George Wythe 26 ● The original George Wythe Elementary School was built in 1909 and was demolished ● The current building constructed in the Art Deco style was opened in 1936 as the George Wythe Junior High School ● In 1950, the new George Wythe Junior High opened on Gloucester Street and the old building became the George Wythe Elementary School ● It closed in 2010 as a cost saving measure and was eventually sold to a private company It repurposed the shuttered school into apartments while preserving the historical integrity of the space ● It was named after George Wythe (1726-1806) ● George Wythe was born in Elizabeth County (now Hampton) at Chesterville plantation (located in the area where Langley NASA now sits) ● He later inherited the plantation from his brother, Thomas Wythe III ● He also inherited the slaves on the plantation and was a slave owner ● George Wythe was the first American law professor, a noted classics scholar, and a Virginia judge ● He was the first of the seven Virginia signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, Wythe served as one of Virginia's representatives to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention ● In his later life, Wythe’s views on slavery began to change, and after his wife died in 1787, he began to free his slaves and to provide for their support In Richmond, Wythe lived with two of his former slaves: his cook Lydia Broadnax, 66, and a 16-year-old boy named Michael Brown ● Wythe was convinced that blacks were as intelligent as whites and, given the same opportunities, would be just as successful ● It is believed he was poisoned by his nephew after he learned George Wythe willed part of the family property to his former slaves ● Sources: ○ “George Wythe,” New World Encyclopedia, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “George Wythe,” Wikipedia, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “Chesterville Plantation Site,” NASA, “accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “Historic School,” The Eyes of Silver Blue, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “The Mysterious Death of George Wythe,” HistoryNet, accessed August 14, 2020 Renamed Schools Jefferson Davis ● Opened in 1960, renamed to Caesar Tarrant Middle School in 2018 ● Named after Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) 27 ● He was a U.S senator from Mississippi, U.S secretary of war and president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War ● After the war, he was charged with treason and was imprisoned in Fort Monroe where he remained for two years ● He refused to take the oath of allegiance to regain his citizenship, which was restored only posthumously by the U.S Congress in 1978 ● Sources: ○ “Jefferson Davis,” History, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “Public Discussion Limited Before Jefferson Davis School Renamed,” Daily Press, accessed August 14, 2020 Robert E Lee ● Opened in 1965 and was closed in 2010 as a cost saving measure ● The school was repurposed from an elementary school to an adult and alternative learning facility known as the Campus at Lee ● In 2017, it was renamed by an HCS central office committee to the Hampton City Schools Adult and Alternative Learning Center ● It was named after Confederate general Robert E Lee (1807-1870) who was born in Stratford, Virginia ● He is best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War ● He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until its surrender in 1865 ● Sources: ○ Lee, ”Wikipedia accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “The Myth of the Kindly General Lee,” The Atlantic, accessed August, 14, 2020 ○ Hampton Removes Robert E Lee’s Name from Campus.” Daily Press, accessed August 14, 2020 COMMITTEE SUGGESTIONS: It is the suggestion of the committee that should a decision be made by the board to rename a school that consideration be given to Mary Peake Mary Peake was the name of the former gifted school that was closed and is now housed at Spratley Gifted Center (See her biographical information on the previous page) Other suggested names are Mary T Christian, Mary Jackson, Catherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan Currently, Jane Bryan is the only school named after a woman, and there are none named after a woman of color These distinguished women all made significant contributions to Hampton 28 Dr Mary T Christian (1924-2019) ● She was born in Hampton, Virginia ● Christian attended Union School and graduated from Phenix High School in 1941 ● While working in the Hampton Institute laundry, she began taking typing courses and eventually landed a secretarial position there ● Encouraged by a mentor, who recognized her limitless potential, she set out to further her education ● In 1955, she earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Hampton Institute ● For the next five years, she worked as a teacher at Aberdeen Elementary in Hampton City Schools, attending Columbia University in the summers to earn her master’s degree ● In 1968 she earned her Ph.D from Michigan State University ● In 1973, Christian was the first African-American woman elected to serve on the Hampton City School Board ● In 1980, she was selected as the Dean of Hampton’s school of education ● In 1986, she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and became the first African-American since Reconstruction to represent the 92nd District She served nine consecutive terms and championed legislation on education, healthcare and prescription drugs ● Christian retired as professor emeritus at Hampton University after serving as a professor and dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Education ● She was the recipient of numerous awards for community and humanitarian service awards and recognized for her work in integrating public schools ● Sources: ○ “The Honorable Mary T Christian,” The History Makers, accessed August 14, 2020 ○ “Former Del Mary T Christian Dies,” Daily Press, accessed August 14, 2020 Mary W (Winston) Jackson (1921-2005) ● Jackson was a scientist, aerospace engineer, humanitarian, and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed not only at NASA, but throughout the nation as well ● She was born in Hampton, Virginia ● Jackson graduated from the all-black Phenix Training School with highest honors ● In 1942, she graduated from Hampton Institute where she earned her bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physical science ● Following graduation, Jackson taught in Maryland prior to joining NACA 29 ● In 1951, she began working at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor to NASA She worked as a research mathematician, or computer, in the-then segregated West Area Computing Unit of what is now the Langley Research Center in Hampton ● She accepted an offer to worked with NASA’s 4X4 pressure tunnel ● In 1958, she became NASA’s first African-American female engineer ● She successfully petitioned the city of Hampton to allow her to take UVA night classes alongside white students (held at Hampton High) in order to complete additional training and courses for her new role ● By 1979, Jackson having achieved the most senior title within the engineering department, decided to take a demotion in order to serve as an administrator in the Equal Opportunity Specialist field ● After undergoing training at NASA headquarters, she returned to Langley to make changes and highlight women and other minorities who were accomplished in the field ● She served as both the Federal Women's Program Manager in the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs and as the Affirmative Action Program Manager, and worked to influence the career paths of women in science, engineering, and mathematics positions at NASA ● Jackson retired from NASA in 1985, having worked for 34 years as an aeronautical engineer ● Her contributions along with the work of NASA mathematicians Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan played a pivotal role in helping U.S astronauts reach space Their accomplishments were highlighted in the 2016 film, Hidden Figures ● In 2019, Jackson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal ● In 2020, the Washington, D.C headquarters of NASA was renamed the Mary W Jackson NASA Headquarters ● Sources: ○ “Hidden Figure No More,” Daily Press June 26, 2020, accessed August 19, 2020 ○ “Mary Jackson (Engineer),” Wikipedia, accessed August 19, 2020 ○ “Mary Winston Jackson,” Legacy Daily Press February 13, 2015, accessed August 16, 2020 ○ “Spotlight on a Hampton Figure Who Is Hidden No More”, Daily Press June 28, 2017, accessed August 19, 2020 ○ “NASA Names Headquarters after Hidden Figure, Mary W Jackson,” NASA News June 24, 2020, accessed August 16, 2020 Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) 30 ● Johnson was an African-American mathematician who calculated and analyzed the flight paths of many spacecraft during her thirty-three year tenure with the NASA space program Her work helped send astronauts to the moon ● Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia ● When she started school, Johnson’s fascination and brilliance with numbers resulted in her being skipped several grades ahead of her peers ● By age 13, she was attending high school at the campus of the historically African- American West Virginia State College By age 18, she had enrolled in the college itself ● In 1937, she earned a B.S., Mathematics and French from West Virginia State College, graduating with highest honors ● Upon graduation, she took a teaching job at a black public school in Marion, Virginia ● In 1953, Johnson began working in Hampton, Virginia, at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA’s) West Area Computing unit Here she worked as one of West Computers, a group of African American women who manually performed complex mathematical calculations for the program’s engineers ● She analyzed test data and provided mathematical computations that were essential to the success of the early U.S space program at a time when NACA was segregated ● It wasn’t until 1958 that segregation was banned as a result of NACA being incorporated into NASA At NASA Johnson was a member of the Space Task Group ● In 1960, she co-authored a paper with one of the group’s engineers about calculations for placing a spacecraft into orbit It was the first time a woman in her division received credit as an author of a research report Johnson authored or coauthored 26 research reports during her career ● In 1961, she calculated the path for Freedom 7, the spacecraft that put Alan Shepard, the first U.S astronaut in space ● In 1962, astronaut, John Glenn, specifically requested that Johnson personally verify the electronic computer had planned his flight correctly As a result, Glenn made history aboard Friendship 7, becoming the first U.S astronaut to orbit Earth ● In 1969, Johnson was also part of the team that calculated where and when to launch the Apollo 11 rocket that sent the first three men to the Moon ● Johnson later worked on the space shuttle program ● She retired from NASA in 1986 ● In 2015, at age 97, Johnson added another extraordinary achievement to her long list: President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of 31 Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor She was cited as a pioneering example of an African-American woman in STEM ● President Obama said at the time, "Katherine G Johnson refused to be limited by society's expectations of her gender and race while expanding the boundaries of humanity's reach." ● In 2016 NASA named a building, the Katherine G Johnson Computational Research Facility, after her ● Sources: ○ “Katherine Johnson: American Mathematician,” Britannica, accessed August 19, 2020 ○ “Katherine Johnson Biography,” NASA, accessed August 19, 2020 ○ “Katherine Johnson,” Wikipedia, accessed August 19, 2020 ○ “Katherine Johnson, Mathematician Dies,” NPR, accessed August 19, 2020 Dorothy J Vaughan (1910-2008) ● Dorothy J (Johnson) Vaughan was an American mathematician and human computer who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and NASA, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia ● She was born in Kansas City, Missouri but her family soon moved to Morgantown, West Virginia ● In 1925, Vaughan graduated from Beechurst High School as valedictorian of her class She received a full tuition scholarship to attend Wilberforce University, a historically black college in Ohio ● In 1929, she graduated cum laude with a B.A in mathematics from Wilberforce ● Her professors encouraged her to graduate work at Howard University, but due to the Great Depression, she took a teaching job in Farmville, Virginia in order to help her family make ends meet ● Vaughan spent the next 14 years teaching mathematics at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville ● In 1943, she started what would be a 28-year long career at NACA, the predecessor to NASA She worked as a mathematician and programmer and specialized in calculations for space flight paths, the Scout Project, and FORTRAN computer programming She along with Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson worked in the West Area Computing, a segregated unit, which consisted of only African Americans ● Vaughan foresaw that machine computers were going to be the way of the future and would eventually replace “human computers.” In preparation, she taught 32 ● ● ● ● herself and the women she supervised programming languages and digital concepts In 1961, she moved into the area of electronic computing and contributed to the success of the space program as a result of her work on the Scout Launch Vehicle Program She worked at NASA for 28 years and retired in 1971 In 2019, Vaughan received the Congressional Gold Medal post-humously Sources: ○ “Dorothy J Vaughan,” Wikipedia, accessed August 19, 2020 ○ “Dorothy Vaughan Biography,” NASA, accessed August, 19, 2020 OTHER RESOURCES: ● Newport News School Board Set to Vote On Renaming Schools: https://www.dailypress.com/news/education/dp-nw-newport-news-schoolrenaming-preview-20200914-v63vdrfh7nhobes5lelquygw3i-story.html#nws=true ● Portsmouth Could Rename Schools” https://www.pilotonline.com/news/education/vp-nw-portsmouth-considersrenaming-schools-20200815-ny5xrj7iszhgvo6byy2mh4tr74story.html#nt=interstitial-manual ● Newport News Accepts Name Nominations for Schools to be Renamed: http://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2021-03-10_NNPS-seeks-input-onrenaming-ofschools.html#:~:text=Newport%20News%20Public%20Schools'%20Diversity,clo se%20on%20Wednesday%2C%20March%2024 33 ... space program at a time when NACA was segregated ● It wasn’t until 1958 that segregation was banned as a result of NACA being incorporated into NASA At NASA Johnson was a member of the Space Task... intersection of Catalpa and Shell Road in the Wythe area of the city NOTE from Beth Austin, Hampton History Museum registrar and historian: “I wanted to add a note on the history of school renaming in Hampton. .. Johnson was an African-American mathematician who calculated and analyzed the flight paths of many spacecraft during her thirty-three year tenure with the NASA space program Her work helped send astronauts