Henry A. Hunt

A photo of Henry Alexander Hunt featured in the August 1930 edition of The Crisis magazine. The photo accompanied an article discussing Hunt being awarded the 16th Spingarn Medal. Henry Alexander Hunt (October 10, 1866 – October 1, 1938) was an American educator who led efforts to reach blacks in rural areas of Georgia. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as the Harmon Prize. In addition, he was recruited in the 1930s by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to join the president's Black Cabinet, an informal group of more than 40 prominent African Americans appointed to positions in the executive agencies.

Early life Henry A. Hunt was born on October 10, 1866, to parents Henry Alexander Hunt Sr. and Mariah Hunt. He was born on "Hunt Hill", by the small town of Sparta, in Hancock County, Georgia, part of the Black Belt. Hunt was the youngest of eight children, four boys and four girls, born to an African-American mother, Mariah Hunt. The Hunts lived in a weather-beaten house on their small farm and the children grew up working on the farm. Despite his African-American roots, Hunt's appearance led people to assume he was from purely Caucasian descent. After Hunt's death, W. E. B. Du Bois, a personal friend of his, publicly spoke of Hunt's Caucasian appearance and reflected on the questions Hunt received about why he did not choose to hide his mixed-race background.

Education He attended school at Sparta for his early education. In 1882, at the age of 16, he started at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University), one of the historically black colleges created after the American Civil War. While attending Atlanta University, Hunt met Florence Johnson, the woman he would eventually marry in 1893. Edward A. Johnson, Florence's brother, was the former Assemblyman of New York. Hunt graduated from Atlanta University with a Bachelors of Arts degree and completion of coursework in the Industrial Department in 1890. The Fort Valley High and Industrial School, affiliated with the American Church Institute of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was chartered in 1895, but struggled financially. The school received funds from Northern philanthropists, but there were disagreements about whether the school should pursue a Liberal Arts educational model or the Hampton-Tuskegee Industrial educational model.

In 1930, Hunt was awarded the 16th Spingarn Medal for his 25 years of work in Fort Valley. When he started working for Fort Valley High and Industrial School there was only one building. Over the years, he raised funds to build the plant of the school and turned it into a community center of teaching about health and farming, as well as academic subjects, and built relations with the regional community of 300,000 blacks and whites. The result of this was a campus expanded to 12 buildings, 91 acres of land, and a worth of $450,000 in 1930.

On February 7, 1934, Hunt was called to attend the Interdepartmental Group Concerned with Special Problems of Negroes, colloquially known as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Black Cabinet. He was one of a total of 45 African Americans who created federal policy on education, jobs and housing at major cabinet-level agencies in the executive branch. They also acted as Roosevelt's informal advisers on national issues related to African Americans and the New Deal. In 1935, a sub-committee of this Interdepartmental Group Concerned with Special Problems of Negroes, specifically dedicated to agriculture was formed of Hunt and four other men. The Flint River Farms was founded as a cooperative community for African-American farmers.

Legacy and honors 1930 - Spingarn Medal In 1930, Hunt received major awards for his 25 years of service in the education of black students. 1930 - Harmon Award - William E. Harmon Foundation award for distinguished achievement among Negroes, for education

Henry Alexander Hunt High School in Fort Valley was named for him. Fort Valley State University's main library is named for him.