John Hope (educator)
| John Hope | |
|---|---|
John Hope
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| Born |
June 2, 1868 Augusta, Georgia, United States |
| Died | February 22, 1936 (aged 67) Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
| Occupation | Educator, political activist |
| Spouse(s) | Lugenia D. Burns |
| Parent(s) | James Hope, Mary Frances Taylor |
| Relatives | Leah Hope (great-great granddaughter) |
John Hope (June 2, 1868 – February 22, 1936), born in Augusta, Georgia, was an African American educator and political activist, the first African-descended president of both Morehouse College in 1906 and of Atlanta University in 1929, where he worked to develop graduate programs. Both are historically black colleges.
Determined to finish his education after having had to leave school to help support his family after his father's death, Hope went North: graduating from Worcester Academy and Brown University. He returned to the South to teach, and in 1906 became the first African American president of Atlanta Baptist College. He served as president until his death in 1936. After the college's affiliation with Atlanta University, Hope was selected in 1929 as the university's first African-American president; he worked to develop that institution's graduate programs to ensure higher education for blacks.
Hope was active in national civil rights organizations, including the Niagara Movement, the succeeding National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Southern-based Commission on Interracial Cooperation. In addition, he was active in the National Urban League, the YMCA and the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools. In 1936, he was awarded the NAACP's Spingarn Medal.
John Hope was born in 1868 in Augusta, Georgia, the son of James Hope, a white Scots-American merchant, and Mary Frances Taylor, a free woman of color. Her mother was part of the free class of people of color well before the Civil War. The senior Hope was born in Langholm, Scotland in 1805, and migrated with his parents at age 12 to New York City in 1817. As a young man, he established a successful grocery business in Manhattan.
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