Hampton University, private coeducational institution of higher learning in Hampton, Virginia, U.S., one of the historically Black colleges and universities in the country. The Undergraduate College consists of schools of business, liberal arts and education, engineering and technology, nursing, pharmacy, science, and journalism and communications. The Graduate College offers master’s degree programs in business, nursing, education, and science and doctoral programs in physics, pharmacy, and physical therapy. Total enrollment is approximately 5,700.
Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a Union general during the American Civil War and an agent for the Freedmen’s Bureau after the war, recognized the need to educate the recently freed slaves. Armstrong raised funds for land and for construction of a school that would train African Americans as teachers, who would in turn educate the larger Black population. The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute opened in 1868. From 1872 to 1920 the school received U.S. land-grant funds. The institute began awarding bachelor’s degrees in 1922 and was accredited as a college in 1933; the school was raised to university status in 1984. The Peabody Collection at the university’s main library contains a wealth of material on African American culture and history. Educator Booker T. Washington is among the school’s notable alumni.