Engs' book analyzes historical enigma

How does a white man, raised in Hawaii as the son of Hawaiian missionaries, come to found a school for blacks and Native Americans in Virginia? That's the question that History Professor Robert Engs sought to answer Thursday as he introduced his new book, Educating the Disenfranchised and Disinherited: Samuel Chapman Armstrong and Hampton Institute 1839-1893. Before a crowd of 20 students and community members at the Center for the Study of Black Literature, Engs discussed the life of a man who is "more likely known for his legend than the reality of his life and work." Armstrong is perhaps best known for founding the university where Booker T. Washington was educated. Armstrong's story unfolds with the outbreak of the Civil War, when he left Hawaii to fight, and was eventually put in command of a regiment consisting mainly of black troops. "Armstrong was unburdened by racism in the form of hatred, guilt and fear," Engs said. "The missionaries in Hawaii saw the Hawaiians as a kind and gentle people that needed to be uplifted -- Armstrong carried this same idea with him to the American South." After the war, he became an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau and took over a camp of former slaves in 1866. Armstrong, Engs said, believed that an economic renaissance in the South was the best way to make it prosperous again. Hampton Institute in Hampton, Va., was the vehicle to this prosperity. Hampton was founded as a teaching academy for blacks, but it also gained prominence as a model of black industrial education. After graduating from Hampton with today's equivalent of a high school diploma, 90 percent of students went on to teach. "But few became only teachers," Engs said. "Many went on to become lawyers, ministers, news editors and politicians, as well." The Hampton environment played a large part in these successes. "Behind the facade the Hampton put up, a less orderly atmosphere existed not in spite of, but because of, Armstrong," Engs said. "Students were able to find their voice, and Armstrong listened." "So far from feeling restrained or limited by Hampton Institute, many felt liberated by it," Engs added. Hampton Institute eventually became Hampton University. "Both of my parents went to Hampton University, so I came to learn more about it," College freshman Yvonne Shirley said. Engs' talk is part of a series by the Afro-American Studies Program. He has been a Penn History professor since 1972 and focuses primarily on the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction. Although his book on Armstrong took 10 years to complete, he has written other books, including Freedom's First Generation: Black Hampton, Va., 1861-1890. "There really is a story to be told," English Professor and Afro-American Studies Director Herman Beavers said. "Engs has pieced together from letters and other documents a clear picture of what Hampton University is all about."