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secure and maintain self-governance. Words alone do not make a declaration so, but the President fought against critics who encouraged him to withhold his proclamation until the war ended.
What strength of will it must have taken not only for Mrs. Peake to educate willing students in defiance of Virginia
law, but also for the children and adults who gathered to learn, perhaps understanding that education was the best defense against tyranny. Imagine what stories that old oak tree could tell, if trees could talk.
The role symbols play in reflecting on freedom simply represent
their stories, and the
Emancipation Oak in Hampton, Virginia, stands today, representing the act of being set free; the state of not being enslaved; the right to act, speak or think as one wants; the freedoms we celebrate.
Southern live oaks, like the one standing tall in Hampton, have the botanical name of “Quercus virginiana,” though only a few grow in a limited part of Virginia, its northern limit being the southeastern corner of the state. This evergreen oak tree, particularly iconic of the Old South, typically grows forty to eighty feet tall with a short trunk, low branches and a broad-spreading rounded crown. Although Mary Peake opted to teach under “her” oak tree for its shade and proximity to Fort Monroe, its majestic longevity stands tall and steadfast on the campus now known as Hampton University, one of the nation’s most prestigious historically black universities.
I grew up in Hampton, Virginia, not far from that grand old tree. As children, we were taught to respect its historical presence, but I doubt we really understood its significance. Not until we moved away and learned the true relevance of “being Southern” have we embraced the positive changes that have evolved in our society. Exactly one hundred
years after the Civil War ended, an African-American classmate and I rode together to use the library at what
was then called Hampton Institute to work on our senior term papers. Every July when freedom rings loudest across our wonderful country, I think about my childhood in Tidewater Virginia and the innocent freedoms we enjoyed, not far from the Emancipation Oak. L
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