This past weekend Hampton University celebrated 132 years of excellence with its early Founders Day Weekend celebration. Students, faculty, alumni, and members of the community gathered on campus to celebrate the occasion.
A gathering was held in Ogden Hall to celebrate those who call Hampton their alma mater. Among the notable alumni was this year’s keynote speaker, four-star General Xavier Brunson. During his speech he reflected on his time at the university.
“If you look right up the block here, that’s where I got commissioned—my dad pinned my rank on me for the first time. So many sentimental events have happened for me here,” he said.
Hampton University was founded in 1868 by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to free men and women. General Samuel Chapman Armstrong was the first president of the university. Arthur Howe III, the great-grandson of General Armstrong, spoke about his great-grandfather’s legacy.
“There was a tiny school in place, and he revitalized that school in several ways into what is an incredible institution right now,” Howe said. “He was a tradition of public service to others; that was the catalyst. He believed deeply in humanity.”
The university is also the home of the oldest museum of the African diaspora in the United States, the Hampton University Museum. It is also the oldest museum in the state of Virginia. The museum was also celebrated during the festivities on Sunday. The museum is home to over 12,000 African, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander artifacts.
General Brunson also expressed his amazement in how the museum has transformed.
“That used to be the library, and for them to take the library and make it a world-class museum speaks not only to the university’s view on its own history but also to the fact that it’s preserving things for the state of Virginia and for the nation,” he said.
