HAMPTON NORMAL AND AGRI CULTURAL INSTITUTE, a school for negroes and Indians, opened in 1868, in Hamp ton, Va., under the auspices of the American Missionary Association. It was chartered by the State in 1870. The school is owned and controlled by a private corporation, adminis tered by 17 trustees. The charter gives the trustees power to choose their own successors, and to hold property without taxation to the amount of $800,000. In 1875 the general as sembly of Virginia passed an act giving the institute one-third of the agricultural college land-grant of Virginia (see COLLEGES, LAND GRANT) amounting to 100,000 acres, which was sold for $95,000 and which pays regular annual interest. The school was first opened in an'old barracks (used during the Civil War), with two teachers and 15 pupils. It now owns 1:: acres on Hampton River, upon which have been erected dormitories, a library, classroom build ings, a church, gymnasium, saw and planing mill, shops, hospital, domestic-science school, trade school — in all numbering 60 buildings. The institute owns also a stock farm of 600 acres, about five miles from the school. The farm land, and the workshops where trades are taught, furnish occupation for the boys and young men. The girls are instructed and em ployed in sewing and cooking classes, in all the domestic work of the school, and wherever pos sible learning trades side by side with the boys. In 1896 the Armstrong and Slater Memorial Trade School was opened. (See NEGRO, EDUCA TION OF THE). In this school is taught the theory and practice of blacksmithing, carpentry, house painting, tailoring and general repairing. The pupils are taught also mechanical, civil, electrical, and mining engineering. On the farms they are taught how to care for stock, how to raise different crops, and the theory and practice of farming in general. The students are charged $10 a month for board, which is largely paid in labor. They are expected to provide their own books and clothing, and for the tuitions, buildings, furniture and the imple ments used on the farms and in the shops the school is dependent on the charity of the country. In 1878, 15 Indians, who had been
prisoners of war at Saint Augustine, Fla., and in charge of Capt. R. H. Pratt, were admitted as students. Since then the Indian department has increased steadily, the pupils being chiefly from the Sioux tribe, of whom two-thirds make a fair or good• record. The young men of the school are organized into six military com panies, all forming one battalion. This places the young men under military discipline. The Southern Workman, a monthly school periodi cal, is edited, printed and managed by the pupils with only a general supervision by one of the teachers. The vacation is from June to October for all except the pupils in the in dustrial departments, which continue work all the year. During the regular long vacation a large number of the colored teachers of the South assemble here for a summer school. For the past 10 years the average attendance at these summer schools has been nearly 500. The students number about 1,800, more than half of whom are teaching in the colored schools of the South. In 1917 the number of pupils in Hampton Institute was about 1,400, about 90 per cent of whom were in the industrial and preparatory departments, the remainder in the college department. The faculty, instructors and officers numbered 133. The library con tains about 37,000 volumes. Many of the gradu ates are engaged in farming or working at trades; some are teaching. Booker T. Wash ington (q.v.), of the class of 1875, is the most noted graduate. Hampton's endowments amount to about $2,750,000. The annual in come is about $290,000, and comes from the government Indian funds, the Slater and Pea body funds, the State land-grant and agricul tural funds and from private donations.