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.

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.

The youth left school after eighth grade to work, but five years later John Hope was determined to get educated.

[1] John Hope returned to the South and began teaching at Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee, a historically Black college founded after the Civil War.

In 1906 Hope was unanimously chosen to be president of Atlanta Baptist College, the first man of African descent to serve in that position.

Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter, northern activists, as founders of the Niagara Movement to work for civil rights for Blacks.

[1] Hope and Du Bois both agreed that Blacks must have the chance for full academic education to develop leaders for their people.

[1] During World War I, Hope went to France, where he served the United States as a YMCA secretary with American Black soldiers from 1918 until 1919.

[1] During his presidency, Atlanta University launched a graduate school, established their Department of Fine Arts, and opened the Trevor Arnett Library.