In 1861, teaching escaped slaves was not allowed under Virginia law. At the "Grand Contraband Camp," near Fort Hampton at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, Miss Mary Peake taught the basics of writing and reading to escaped slaves. The African American students had reached the Union line during the first months of the Civil War and, under orders of Gen. Benjamin Butler, would not be returned south. Classes were conducted under a large oak tree. Within a few years, the teaching turned into the Butler School for Negro Children. That, in turn, helped inspire the formation of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute on land adjoining Butler. With a stated mission to teach both character and self-sufficiency, Hampton opened in 1868. Its most revered student was Booker T. Washington, who was the first teacher at what became the acclaimed Tuskegee University. Hampton University was an important site for the 1960s civil-rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the school and Rosa Parks, the black Alabama woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat sparked a protest, once worked there. More than 140 years after its start, Hampton University has schools of nursing, pharmacy and engineering and technology. Its Scripps Howard School of Journalism teaches print and broadcast journalism in addition to public relations.
Two of the greatest black educators, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, had deep roots at Alabama's acclaimed Tuskegee University. The former was its first teacher while the latter became a famed agricultural scientist. The school itself was the result of a former slaveholder needing votes from black voters and a former slave wanting his voting neighbors to have the opportunity to learn. Tuskegee was founded in 1881; 104 years later, it received university status. Its rich history includes World War II's Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots to fly and fight for the United States. The country's first African-American four-star general, Daniel "Chappie" James, was a Tuskegee graduate. Presently, more than 75 percent of African American veterinarians are graduates of the School of Veterinary Medicine.
In Washington, D.C., during the late autumn of 1866, the white First Congregational Society decided to establish a seminary to train black ministers. The idea caught on, the scope of the plans expanded and, following a charter approved by Congress and President Andrew Johnson, in 1867 the school became a university. It was named in honor of founder Oliver O. Howard, a Union general, and soon had colleges of medicine and liberal arts. Howard University is the source of the majority of African-American doctoral graduates. The student body, which numbers more than 10,000, has more than 120 areas of study for undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. In 2009, undergraduates received a majority of their degrees in arts and sciences, followed by business and pharmacy.
Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., was founded in 1865. The American Baptist Home Mission Society of the Baptist Church wanted to teach theology to freedmen following the Civil War. Although begun as a black university, Shaw's commitment is to educate everyone without regard to race, creed, or ethnic origin. It offered the first four-year medical school and program to educate African-American women in the country. The civil-rights movement's Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee grew out of a 1960 conference at the university.
Shaw's motto is Pro Christo et Humanitate -- "For Christ and Humanity". Its satellite campuses are in Ahoskie, Asheville, Durham, Fayetteville, High Point, Kannapolis, Rocky Mount and Wilmington. Its undergraduate degrees include environmental science, international business, mass communications (electronic media production and/or journalism), mathematics, political science, psychology, public administration and therapeutic recreation. Advanced degrees range from master of divinity and master of religious education to master of science in curriculum and instruction.