Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Hampton Institute, 1895: Cherokee students

  • wcu_craft_revival-4962.jpg
  • This 1895 photograph from the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives shows a group of students a few months after their arrival at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia. Founded as a Freedman's Bureau school 1868, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute was established educate African Americans after the Civil War. Booker T. Washington was, perhaps, its most famous student. In 1878 Hampton established a formal education program for Native Americans and gained a reputation for educating students from diverse tribes. Some of the students are identified. In the front row, standing, (left to right) are Alonzo Lee and Jessie Lambert. Among the students standing in the back, fourth from the left, is believed to be Will West Long. Long later became known as an authority on Cherokee culture and folklore, especially concerning medicine and spiritual practices, and was a talented woodworker renowned for his hand carved wooden dance masks. The name of the photographer who captured this shot is unknown.