Founded by the American Missionary Association to train selected young Black men and women to "teach and lead their people, first by example...." Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute opened in April 1868 with 2 teachers and 15 students; today, it is a fully accredited liberal arts college with an international faculty and student body. The Institute served as a model for numerous Black industrial schools subsequently founded to aid the freedmen; Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute, was himself a graduate of this school.

Information provided by the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Park Service.