John Hope

John Hope (June 2, 1868 – February 22, 1936), born in Augusta, Georgia, was an 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 the institution's graduate programs to ensure higher education for Black students.

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.

Early life and education 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 class of free 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.

In 1831, the senior Hope moved south to Augusta, Georgia, where he became a successful businessman. He later formed a relationship with Mary Frances Taylor. State law prohibited interracial marriage, but they lived openly as a couple to the end of his life and had a family. They had children. Lugenia Burns Hope became a well-known social reformer.

Legacy and honors

In 1932, Hope received an LL.D. from Bates College. In 1936, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. In 1944, the Liberty ship SS John Hope was named for him. In 1950 Chicago radio station WMAQ produced the episode "John Hope, Educator" in the anthology program Destination Freedom (written by scriptwriter Richard Durham) about his life and career. John Hope College Preparatory High School, located at 5515 S. Lowe, in the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago was named for him. Hope-Hill Elementary School, located at 112 Boulevard, N.E., in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood in Atlanta was named for him. Hope was invited as the Convention Speaker for Alpha Phi Alpha's Silver Anniversary convention in Nashville, Tennessee. The Science Hall at Morehouse College was re-named John Hope Hall. Worcester Academy created the John Hope Fellowship for young educators of color in 2007. The first fellowship awarded to artist and educator Robyn Thompson Duong Camp John Hope in Marshallville, Georgia is also named for John Hope. Hope was a close friend and served as a mentor of Alonzo G. Morón, who went on to become the president of Hampton University