11/03/2025
Today in Hampton History
1937 - Charles and Maggie Jones become the first residents of Aberdeen Gardens, a New Deal housing development designed and built “By Blacks - For Blacks.”
The historic Black neighborhood was initiated and planned by Hampton Institute and built from 1934 to 1937. It was the first homestead community built for Black residents under the New Deal.
The neighborhood’s street names honored Black pioneers and community leaders:
Matt N. Lewis, Black journalist and publisher of the Newport News Star.
W. B. and Anna Weaver, founders of the Weaver Orphan Home.
Maggie L. Walker, social worker, activist, and founder of the St. Luke’s Bank in Richmond.
Mary Peake, educator whose work before and during the Civil War helped lead to the founding of Hampton University.
Daniel Webster Davis, teacher, poet, orator, and pastor in Richmond.
James S. Russell, founder and president of St. Paul’s Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville, Va.
John Mercer Langston, Virginia’s first Black member of Congress, Dean of Howard University Law School, and president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University).
Image: An unidentified young couple moving into a new home in Aberdeen Gardens. Arthur Rothenstein, Nov. 1937. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Find more Aberdeen Gardens history in our collections online: https://hampton.catalogaccess.com/advanced-search?includedFields=Objects%2CPhotos%2CArchives%2CLibrary%2CPeople%2CContainers&Geography+and+Place=%22Site--Aberdeen+Gardens%22&page=1&size=10&withImages=false
Explore more:
https://aberdeengardensfoundation.org/
https://aberdeengardenshca.org/
https://aberdeengardenshca.org/historic-museum
https://www.aahpfdn.org/Historic-Aberdeen-Gardens--Virginia
