wtp1987 An Oak Tree Called - The 'Emancipation Oak' This live oak on the campus of Hampton University in Virginia has long stood as a symbol of perseverance, freedom, and education. Over 150 years ago, this tree served as a classroom for Black men, women, & children who fled to nearby Fort Monroe to escape bondage during the Civil War. After Union General Benjamin F. Butler gave shelter to fugitive slaves as “contraband of war” during the early days of the Civil War in 1861, crowds of ”freed“ people began to camp in the area around this tree. Refugeed men, women, and children at Fort Monroe worked to transform the Union army’s tenuous protection into opportunity and freedom. The sprawling oak served as the first classroom that newly free children and adults were allowed to attend. These early classes were taught by Pioneering teacher Mary Peake, who held her first class under that tree on September 17, 1861 with “only about half a dozen” pupils, but within several days, attendance had grown to between fifty and sixty students. Among her students was her own little daughter Daisy, five years old. The children learned to read simple lessons fluently in a very short time. When adults expressed an interest in education, Peake organized night classes for about twenty adults. Mary Smith Peake then helped form The Butler School in 1863, which was constructed beside the tree. Over time, it became a powerful symbol for African Americans. The American Missionary Association gave Mary Peake the use of Brown Cottage, where she worked and lived; it is often referred to as the first building on the Hampton University campus. Unfortunately, she was seriously ill with tuberculosis, which she had contracted before the war, but she continued to teach. Mary Peake continued as the primary teacher at Fortress Monroe until she became too ill to continue. Her strong will to educate the freedmen and their children was no match for the hold tuberculosis had on her frail body. Shortly after Christmas 1861, she was forced to give up teaching and was confined to her bed. Mary Smith Peake passed away on February 22, 1862 of tuberculosis. In 1863, the first Southern reading of the Emancipation Proclamation occurred under the limbs of this Oak Tree. Now known as the Emancipation Oak!
@wtpBLUE God bless Mary Peake, and those who still work to liberate others from oppression.
@wtpBLUE @dismantlegop Thank you! I hadn't previously known of this. ♥️
@wtpBLUE Giving of self. Teaching was her passion ♥️
@wtpBLUE Excellent info about the truth of history. We must never forget, and we have a duty to teach our children the truth.