Hampton, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Civil Rights
Lawyers made it possible. Educators will have to make it successful.
Photographed by Brandon D Cross
1. Civil Rights Marker
Inscription.
Civil Rights. Lawyers made it possible. Educators will have to make it successful.. Hampton University, whose campus includes the spot where President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was first read to slaves on the Peninsula, played a major role in making those promises a reality nearly a century later. The civil rights movement on campus evolved slowly as the school grew from a training institute for former slaves to a full-fledged college., Shortly after taking office as Hampton Institute's first African American president in 1949, Alonzo G. Moron told teachers that their "highest calling" was to inspire students to stand up for their rights. He became an important national voice for full racial equality. After the Supreme Court's historic 1954 ruling outlawing segregated schools, he declared, "Lawyers made it possible. Educators will have to make it successful.", Throughout the 1950s, major civil rights figures, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer and Langston Hughes, spoke to students. Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, briefly worked on campus. Political science and history clubs provided forums for discussions, including the Back-to-Africa movement, the Nation of Islam and civil disobedience., In early 1960, within days of the first lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C., Hampton students were the first in Virginia to follow suit. On Feb. 11, students walked downtown to a five and dime store and sat at a formerly segregated lunch counter. In the following days they did the same thing at a drug store and confectionery. In the coming weeks they organized and took part in marches through Hampton city streets, often singing civil rights songs of the era. They led boycotts of stores that refused to serve them, and within six months they celebrated as a number of these barriers fell., (captions) , Hampton Institute's first African American president, Alonzo G. Moron taken in 1949 Courtesy of Hampton University , Hampton Institute's Band - Courtesy of the Hampton History Museum, Cheyne Collection
Hampton University, whose campus includes the spot where President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was first read to slaves on the Peninsula, played a major role in making those promises a reality nearly a century later. The civil rights movement on campus evolved slowly as the school grew from a training institute for former slaves to a full-fledged college.
Shortly after taking office as Hampton Institute's first African American president in 1949, Alonzo G. Moron told teachers that their "highest calling" was to inspire students to stand up for their rights. He became an important national voice for full racial equality. After the Supreme Court's historic 1954 ruling outlawing segregated schools, he declared, "Lawyers made it possible. Educators will have to make it successful."
Throughout the 1950s, major civil rights figures, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer and Langston Hughes, spoke to students. Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, briefly worked on campus. Political science and history clubs provided forums for discussions, including the Back-to-Africa movement, the Nation of Islam and civil disobedience.
In early 1960, within days of the first lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C., Hampton students
Click or scan to see this page online
were the first in Virginia to follow suit. On Feb. 11, students walked downtown to a five and dime store and sat at a formerly segregated lunch counter. In the following days they did the same thing at a drug store and confectionery. In the coming weeks they organized and took part in marches through Hampton city streets, often singing civil rights songs of the era. They led boycotts of stores that refused to serve them, and within six months they celebrated as a number of these barriers fell.
(captions)
Hampton Institute's first African American president, Alonzo G. Moron taken in 1949 Courtesy of Hampton University
Hampton Institute's Band - Courtesy of the Hampton History Museum, Cheyne Collection
Erected by Explore Hampton 2010.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Education. A significant historical date for this entry is February 11, 1960.
Location. 37° 1.318′ N, 76° 19.976′ W. Marker is in Hampton, Virginia. It is on Marshall Avenue 0.1 miles west of Emancipation Drive, on the right when traveling west. Located south of Martin Luther King Jr Hall on the grounds of Hampton University. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 141 Marshall Avenue, Hampton VA 23669, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on the Peninsula and in Coastal Virginia. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Tidewater. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other markers no longer nearby. Emancipation Oak (was approx. 0.2 miles away but has been replaced with another marker now near it); a different marker also named Emancipation Oak (was approx. 0.2 miles away but has been replaced with another marker now near it).
Also see . . . 1. Hampton University History. (Submitted on July 31, 2024, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida.) 2. Alonzo G. Moron. (Submitted on July 31, 2024, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on July 31, 2024. It was originally submitted on July 31, 2024, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. This page has been viewed 186 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on July 31, 2024, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
