John Hope (educator)

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John Hope
John Hope
Born March 2, 1868
Augusta, Georgia
Died February 20, 1936
Atlanta, Georgia

John Hope (June 2, 1868 - February 20, 1936), born in Augusta, Georgia, was an African-American educator and political activist. He was the son of a white father, who was a farmer, and a black mother.

Hope graduated from Worcester Academy in 1890, then matriculated to Brown University. After he graduated from Brown in 1894 he taught at Roger Williams University. In 1898, he left Roger Williams to become professor of Classics at Atlanta Baptist College, (now Morehouse College), and in 1906 was appointed the institution's first black president.

Hope joined W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter as founders of the Niagara Movement.

Hope served as a YMCA secretary with black soldiers in France from 1918 until 1919 and organized the Commission on Interracial Cooperation of which he became the first president.

In 1928, Morehouse and Spelman College became affiliated with Atlanta University and Hope was unanimously chosen to be president of the institution. He held this position until his death in 1936.

In 1932, Hope received a LL.D. from Bates College.

Hope was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.

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