The Hampton Negro Conference was a series of conferences held between 1897 and 1912 hosted by the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia. It brought together Black leaders from across the Southern United States, as well as some white participants, to promote, analyze, and advertise the progress of Black Americans. According to a description in the institute's catalog, through the conferences "a general summary of the material and intellectual progress of the Negro race [was] obtained."
The first Conference was held from July 21 to July 22, 1897. The conferences ranged over a variety of topics including health, agriculture, women's issues, crime, and education. In preceding years there appear to have been more informal meetings of alumni at the institute, also referred to as the Hampton Negro Conference, as seen for example in the papers of Booker T. Washington.
The 1907 trustees report of the John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen, which had directed $10,000 to the Hampton Institute in that year, stated that the conference was attended by four hundred to five hundred teachers, prominent business and professional men, and farmers.
Writing in 1917, John Manuel Gandy characterized the Conference as "the clearing house of ideas of Negro activities" for its time.
Publications + "Annual reports" and "Proceedings of" links Year HathiTrust link Internet Archive link Google Books link 1897—1st · 1898—2nd
1899—3rd · 1900—4th · 1901—5th
1902—6th
1903—7th
1904—8th · · 1905—9th · 1906—10th · · 1907—11th · 1908—12th
1909—13th
1910—14th
1911—15th · 1912—16th
See also Colored Conventions Movement Atlanta Conference of Negro Problems
References