Mary S. Peake

Mary Smith Peake, born Mary Smith Kelsey (1823 – February 22, 1862), was an American teacher, humanitarian and a member of the black elite in Hampton, best known for starting a school for the children of former slaves starting in the fall of 1861 under what became known as the Emancipation Oak tree in present-day Hampton, Virginia near Fort Monroe.

[1] The US Congress enacted a law prohibiting free people of color in the District of Columbia from being educated (as was the case in Virginia and several other southern states).

[2] There Kelsey founded a women's charitable organization, called the Daughters of Zion, whose mission was to assist the poor and the sick.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Union forces maintained control of nearby Fort Monroe, which became a place of refuge for escaped slaves' seeking asylum.

Mary Peake started teaching the children of former slaves and the American Missionary Association (AMA) paid her some salary and gave support as its first black teacher.

[2] She began teaching outside on September 17, 1861 under a large oak tree in Phoebus, a small town nearby in Elizabeth City County.