CHAPTER IV
SCHOOL DAYS AT HAMPTON
At the close of the Civil War one of the most important needs of the country was to provide some kind of education for the negroes. They had never had any schools. If they were to become good citizens, they must have the proper training. A great many good men in the North and in the South recognized this fact, and set to work to establish schools. Among these men was General Samuel C. Armstrong. The General's parents had been missionaries to Hawaii. He had been educated in the United States, had entered the army as soon as the war began, and had made such a brilliant record as a soldier that, when the war was over, he had risen to the rank of general.
He had seen a great deal of the negro as a soldier during the war. He knew about the conditions in the South, and he felt that the greatest service he could render would be to give his life to the cause of education. He went to work at once, and, through the aid of a number of Southern men, he established a school for negro boys and girls at Hampton, Virginia, and called it Hampton Institute.
His main purpose was to give negro boys and
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