♪ (Jazzy saxophone and piano music) ♪ DR. ZIETTE HAYES: Dr. Harvey is truly a visionary.

He has always said and has always continued to say nothing has failed but a try.

FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Now before we get started, I just want to say a word about, President Harvey.

A man who bleeds Hampton blue.

In a single generation, Hampton has transformed from a small black college into a world-class research institution.

(Applause) FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: And that transformation has come through the efforts of many people.

But it has come through President Harvey's efforts in particular.

And I want to commend him for his outstanding leadership, as well as his great friendship to me.

(More applause) ROBERT WATSON: 1868 is when Hampton was founded as Hampton Normal Agriculture Institute, and the first Africans who go to school at this institution were from this area.

So this institute, as it was then and university as it is now, has played a pivotal role in the development of the community.

Many of the first teachers who went out and taught the newly freed children of the slave were educated right here at Hampton.

And so that's an American story.

There's not just a Hampton story, and it's one that needs to be known throughout.

There's been so much coverage over the last five years now of the landing of the first Africans right here at Old Point Comfort, which is part of Port Monroe.

Hampton is right up the street, so to speak, from that landing place where those first Africans who arrived in the English colony in 1619, this is where they were brought.

JESSE JACKSON JR.: From 1619 through the long, dark night of the existence of the Negro in the United States during slavery and during Reconstruction through Jim Crow, the establishment of an idea that through education, African-Americans could earn citizenship, that they could earn their right through work into the American middle class and into the way of life is directly tied to the relationship that these historically Black colleges and universities, these missionaries and others who came north to the south to provide those African-Americans the highest level of learning.

WATSON: On the 1st of January, 1863, thousands of enslaved people in this area learned for the first time that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.

And that reading took place in the South under the Emancipation Oak.

This is five years before Hampton Institute is founded.

It's one of the iconic places not only in Virginia, but in the world.

ALVETTA EWELL: And the cool thing about the oak that's right here on the campus is that at that time it was shorter and a lot smaller, but it had branches that just bowed down so that the students could actually be sheltered from the rain and from the snow.

And, I feel like it was prophetic for that to happen in order for us to gain an education.

WATSON: I encourage my colleagues, as I do, to at least conduct one class under the Emancipation Oak and also under the Booker T. Washington statue.

When I do give a class there or conduct a lecture there, I tell my students that, you know, look at this tree.

It's not just a tree.

It's a living artifact.

It's not just a place where people learned that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, but there were people who actually came here and heard that they had been freed.

By the way, one of the pens that Lincoln used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation is housed in the Hampton University Museum.

(Jazzy piano music) EWELL: When I walk on the campus, I literally feel the presence of the ancestors.

I mean, if you think about it all from that beginning of us even coming to the United States or what they call the new world.

A lot of that happened not just in Hampton, but on Hampton's campus.

WATSON: Armstrong, Samuel Chapman Armstrong, who was a ex-Union General and who was actually sent to this area by Oliver O. Howard, who was the head of the Freedmen's Bureau in Washington, D.C., sent Armstrong into this area, and Armstrong began to look around for a place that he could build a college.

(Choir singing) ♪ I'm going home ♪ WATSON: Every year we celebrate Founders' Day.

(choir singing) And Founders' Day is a very important day to celebrate.

Here's why.

Samuel Chapman Armstrong all be it a man of his generation and of his time in terms of how he looked at Blacks.

But having said that, he was also a visionary.

He's a visionary who understood that an educated generation would be an asset for the nation, not just for the Hampton area.

The university has played a very key role in educating people in this area and allowing many of those people to go out and make their name elsewhere, like Booker T. Washington.

JACKSON JR.: Those slaves who were able to steal away and read the Bible and learn from the Bible, those who actually preached the good news of liberation on the plantation would ultimately become, during the period of reconstruction, our first African-American presidents of universities.

And then we moved to another model coming out of slavery.

And that was the scholar president model and then the current model is the businessman president model.

And during the businessman president model, HBCUs have experienced an unprecedented horizontal growth in no small measure because of the leadership of Dr. Harvey.

ANDREW YOUNG JR: I was on Howard's campus for three years.

I never shook hands with Mordecai Johnson.

I went to hear him preach at the beginning of every quarter.

And I remember his sermons, but I never said hello to him.

I never shook his hand.

I probably would have been better off at a smaller school like Hampton, especially if I'd had a president like Bill Harvey.

(Jazzy swing music) REP. BOBBY SCOTT: I've been a fan of Hampton University for a long time.

In fact, I attended the Lab School as a pre-kindergarten student, so I've been associated with Hampton for a long time.

I met Dr. Harvey when he came as president in the late 1970's, and we've worked together on education issues.

But he came with a vision to uplift Hampton University, and he has certainly fulfilled that vision.

FORMER GOV.

ROBERT MCDONNELL: I daresay every president or vice president of the country has set foot on Hampton University, and I believe every governor of Virginia, and probably for the last three decades has come to Hampton University at least once, some multiple times like me, because we just had such great respect for Dr. Harvey and for the mission of Hampton University.

FORMER GOV.

L. DOUGLAS WILDER: The thing that Bill Harvey has been able to bring about is collegiality.

Being able to serve in capacities, knowing how to speak to the presidents of both parties, the governors of both parties to enlist the support financially and the community from the alumni, as well as from the business community.

Business and education go together.

And there's a one word definition that I use for politics and that's money, and you can't name a single thing that doesn't involve money in politics.

And Bill has not been afraid to put his hand on those people who are in political positions to help the university to say, hey, we need something more than your mouth and put something on the table beside your elbow.

And he's done it well.

TAMEIKA ISAAC DEVINE: There's not a Hampton University without Dr. Harvey.

You know, I came in as a freshman, 17 years old, and I remember hearing him talk.

I hear him talk about Hampton and not just the legacy of Hampton, but, you know, once becoming a student at Hampton, you know, we have a lot of responsibility to do well here at our alma mater.

JACKSON JR.: I don't know a campus that is as perfectly situated in an environment that is as conducive to learning as Hampton University.

And this is a private school.

It's hard to imagine that a school of this magnitude and with this mission has even survived without Dr. Harvey and Dr. Harvey's model.

But the fact that this is a private school makes it some kind of miracle, in spite of the fact that most of them are land grant institutions from state charters, which are funded, as you know, by taxpayers and so it's a different burden on the president of an institution like this, where there's always a challenge by gentrification, by the political order to seize even more valuable real estate that was once set aside for the slave.

(Jazzy swing piano music) DR. BARBARA INMAN: A leader must focus on being results oriented, and you have to be fiscally responsible, that is a lot of what I've learned from Dr. Harvey's leadership.

REP. BOBBY SCOTT: When he came, it was Hampton Institute at the time, a very small college with a lot of different needs, and he came in with the vision that he was going to uplift it to a college that could compete internationally.

The first order of business was to increase the endowment, and now Hampton's endowment is certainly huge compared to any other historically Black college or university, but fairly significant compared to any other college.

It enables the university to do a lot of things and colleges have their ups and downs financially.

If you have a large endowment, you can weather those ups and downs and continue making progress.

DORETHA SPELLS: Hampton University is an institution that has always been blessed, but under Dr. Harvey's leadership, when it came to the endowment was 29 million.

The university was operating in the red.

Under his leadership, the endowment is now over 400 million and we have not operated in the red under his leadership.

We have always ended the year with a surplus and those kind of things just doesn't happen.

One of the things that tends to hurt our HBCUs and most institutions is that they tend to be tuition driven and Hampton University has not.

Dr. Harvey says that he was taught by his mother that we can't spend a $1.25 if we only have a $1.

DR. JOANN HAYSBERT: Performance is what counts, is what you would hear him say.

And it doesn't matter if it comes from a woman, a man or whomever.

And that's true.

I've seen that because I've been in position here to see that.

DR. BARBARA INMAN: I was mesmerized with all of the strong women who were on Dr. Harvey's leadership team.

And that really made a special impression on me as a young woman, not really knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

Of course, that led me to work as the vice president for student affairs.

That definitely was not something that I had planned to do.

Quite honestly, I didn't think that I was ready for that type of responsibility.

Because Dr. Harvey saw something in me as a leader, as a manager.

He gave me that opportunity.

And I've been in that role for the last 14 years, um, because he saw something in me that I wasn't really sure I could do.

ISAAC DEVINE: Hampton would prepare us for whatever life had for us.

But, you know, unfortunately, you come out as an African-American and you're always going to be in rooms where sometimes people will second guess whether or not you belong there or whether or not you're prepared.

But, you know, the leadership that Dr. Harvey has not just told us about, but he's been an example of, he's shown us, shows that you can show up in any room.

And not only are you prepared to be in that room, most of the time, you're probably the most prepared to be in that room.

ANDREW: One of the geniuses of Bill Harvey was that he linked Hampton University directly with free enterprise.

He was an entrepreneur that had a Pepsi-Cola franchise, much of which he contributed back to Hampton.

He tried to get other HBCUs to begin to think that way, but very few of them had the business acumen that he had.

I feel very, very close to him educationally, economically, and culturally, and I wish we could have multiplied him.

DONNIE TUCK: I would think that the one thing that people would probably remember about Dr. Harvey and his leadership is that he has always tried to move the university forward.

DR. WILLIAM R. HARVEY: General Armstrong recognized as most successful leaders do, that he or she cannot carry on the work alone.

It takes a team of individuals to bring forth a great vision.

(Dramatic music sting) REV.

DEBRA HAGGINS: I serve as university chaplain.

I serve as campus pastor, and I serve as executive director of the Hampton University Ministers Conference and additional role as director of the Religious Studies Program.

Hampton was founded in 1868.

I am appointed the first female chaplain in the history of the university.

It was such a bold and audacious move on the part of Dr. Harvey to not look at gender, but look at institutional need and organizational fit.

In other words, the right person at the right time for the right position.

The chapel, we call it a chapel because it welcomes everyone.

The students are free to go in, pray in their way, meditate in their way, contemplate in their way.

And that's one of the greatest gifts that I can give to students who are of various faith traditions here at Hampton.

Our virtual ministry is very strong as well.

The Hampton University Minister's conference was founded in 1914.

The Minister's conference was this phenomenon of 40 pastors from four denominations who decided they wanted to get together with the Chaplains office here at Hampton University and create this partnership where ministers could continue to grow and could continue to learn.

There were many pastors during that time and during that season who did not avail themselves or were not privy to having a seminary education.

And so the ministers conference stepped in at that time to provide continuing education, to provide professional studies for those individuals who did not have a seminary degree.

But over the past 107 or eight years, the ministers conference has grown to several thousand per year.

And it's not just a local phenomenon.

It is this national phenomenon across the country.

JALEN VERNON: My name is Jalen Vernon.

I'm a fourth year business management student from Chicago, Illinois, and I have the pleasure of serving under Dr. Haggins as campus ministry president.

Been doing that for this past semester, this past school year.

Dr. Haggins or Rev as I call her, she's very... a very powerful leader.

And so it is really been a pleasure being able to sit under her.

And I believe that she leads well she leads in grace and style and class.

REV.

HAGGINS: I love this chapel it is so beautiful.

The arches, the windows, the doors, the yellow pine pews.

Just such a beautiful- it's really an architectural marvel.

There are only three perfect Italian Romanesque structures in the world, and we're standing in one of them right here on the campus of Hampton University.

We've made wonderful strides in ministry.

There are many pastoral leaders, many congregational leaders who are female.

Dr. Harvey was very forthright with me when he offered me this position.

He told me he said this position, Reverend Haggins, is historic and applause worthy.

He said, but one thing I'd like for you to know is that you're going to face challenges and obstacles and roadblocks.

That's what being the first means many times.

DR. HARVEY: Now, Hampton provides its students with an education for life, the knowledge and skills gained during their tenure at the University has enlightened and prepared them to be creatures of original ideas, champions of change and conquerors of new territories.

You, the graduating class of 2022, will be instrumental in moving our nation and our world forward.

The world is waiting for you.

Serve it and Hampton well.

(Applause) DR. HAYSBERT: We have more than 92 majors.

That was certainly not the case when Dr. Harvey came in 1978.

And I suspect most importantly is that the institution changed its classification.

We were Hampton Institute in 1980 and pretty much a liberal arts school that he then moved to a comprehensive university that now is a high doctoral research institution.

FORMER GOV.

GEORGE ALLEN: The great thing about Dr. Harvey is in so many ways, he's, you know, he is football terms, he's a Hall of Famer.

It's just really fantastic in his, how he can envision things ahead of time.

He would achieve so many different things that most people don't think of.

For example, some of the things that they wanted to do with NASA.

DR. ROBERT LOUGHMAN: I chair the Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

We offer two degree tracks: atmospheric science and planetary science.

Atmospheric science means we're focusing on the earth.

Planetary science means we're studying planets in general.

So it could be including the Earth, but other planets as well.

Most of our students go on to work for government agencies like NASA.

DR. JAMES RUSSELL III: We are the only HBCU to have our own satellite mission.

We are the prime contractor from NASA.

DR. PATRICK MCCORMICK: Dr. Harvey has just given us a free rein to improve, to go after different missions.

FORMER GOV.

MCDONNELL: I learned a lot from Dr. Harvey, and that is about his incredible passion for health care, for what he did with his team of people to stand up the first Proton Therapy Cancer Treatment Institute in the Commonwealth of Virginia, one of the few on the East Coast, when it was done at the time, really was game changing.

TIFFANY RODGERS: Okay, so this is our main atrium space.

This is where patients will sit, you know, if they're waiting to be seen, if they're waiting on a loved one, their caregivers, they'll kind of sit in this space here when it's nice outside, they're able to go outside right by the lake.

It's a really beautiful space outside when it's warm.

Back in 2005, Dr. Harvey heard the statistics of African American men dying of prostate cancer.

And this was Petersburg, Virginia, and Portsmouth had the highest mortality rate of African-American men dying of prostate cancer.

And prostate cancer is like 99% curable.

He said, "How is this happening?

How is this happening right in my backyard?"

And so he started doing some digging and he formed a team together to kind of pull the stats as to why these things were happening.

And he found out about proton therapy.

And he said, "I got to figure out how to bring this technology, this treatment to the Hampton Roads area, because I have got to use my resources and do what it is that I can do to help these men, my brothers, my men."

LAWRENCE DAVIS: I learned about Proton a few years ago after my father had passed, and as he had prostate cancer, my brother found out he had prostate cancer after that.

And um, then they told me on April Fool's Day that I had prostate cancer.

I found out in my research that this is the largest and most advanced proton center in the world, not just in Hampton, not just in Virginia, but in the world.

And I felt honored to even to just be here.

NORMA HARVEY: I have supported the Children's Center in the Proton Center, and I have given monetarily for this project since it opened.

And I do that because I love helping children.

Children are so special.

And to help them when they are, sick it means so much to me.

DR. HAYES: So education is a big part of what we do because we know it can make a difference in terms of how someone seeks out this opportunity.

And then successfully completes this opportunity.

I do believe that there is a little bit more trust associated with this facility, understanding more about our community than, you know, going somewhere else.

LOUIS SULLIVAN: HBCUs not only provide an academic education, they really are purveyors of the culture, the history of the African-American community and the nation in general.

The contribution they make is much more than the academic education.

They provide a historical perspective, a cultural presentation, and they represent the values inculcated in the nation's historically Black community.

The level of poverty is greater, and therefore the health status of African-Americans is less than that of the white community.

This is shown by the fact the life expectancy is a 5 to 7 years shorter.

Deaths from heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other conditions is higher.

Hampton University, in developing its proton beam therapy, is contributing to improving the health of not only the African-American community, but the community at large.

(Uplifting and reflective electronic pop music) DR. HAYSBERT: When the president began to move Hampton Institute to Hampton University, there were a number of committees that he formulated.

And then took it to the campus, if you would.

So he began to talk about what the institution should look like.

And as a result, it was kind of hard fight, if you would.

But I think most people began to realize that it was best for us to move to the next level.

And in order to do that, we needed to make some changes in programs.

But those changes were good changes.

They were adding programs and of course, deleting others.

We've always stated that we will remain a teaching institution with a focus on teaching.

The idea was as we continue to the trajectory if you would, that we would marry or merge effective teaching with research.

And that's what we've done.

(camera shutter) JULIA WILSON: I'm bringing an international vision to the school.

I believe that our students should be competing for jobs throughout the world, not just thinking locally or regionally or even nationally.

But we're trying to make sure that they have the skills that they need to work anywhere in the world and to compete at the highest levels, not only to get jobs, but to build careers.

I bring with me um 25 years experience or uh operating an international public relations firm and actually as part of my firm, one of the projects we had was to put together a group of 43 HBCUs so that students from those universities could study at Chinese universities.

And since 2014, we've had 1000 HBCU students to study in China at various universities there.

We make sure that we tap into the digital world to make sure that they have opportunities to understand how to build on their skills in social media, also artificial intelligence and virtual reality and augmented reality.

We are looking towards the future for our students to graduate and become leaders in the media industry.

DR. INMAN: Hampton University is where I found myself.

I owe a lot to Hampton University.

I owe a lot to the Harvey family.

Mrs. Harvey is the reason why I worked as a student worker in Dr. Harvey's office.

I babysat his younger daughter, Leslie, while I was an undergraduate student, and she and I are still very good friends to this day.

NIA ALLAH: My story at Hampton starts way before I was even born.

I've been, I want to say, a part of Hampton for generations now, but I really went to Hampton for the first time when I was nine months old with my mother.

The first person to go to Hampton in my family was actually my great uncle, Patrick H. Whitfield.

He was actually the first person to graduate from the first ROTC class.

My mother and aunt, great cousins, cousins, all went to Hampton.

I am a third generation member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

I am a second generation of the gorgeous and talented Gamma Theta chapter, which I am very proud of.

My aunt, Miss Deon Ledford, she was the 1988 Miss Hampton.

Whenever she comes back to Hampton, it's like it's such a warm welcome all over again.

As if she was still going here.

She is held to such a high regard.

I feel like before I got to college, I was just very sheltered, very whitewashed.

I feel like I just wasn't as cultured.

And like, since coming here, I feel like it was just really my chance to flourish.

VERNON: Of course we know that there is an HBCU experience, but I believe that there is also a Hampton experience.

The love that we have from the graduates and the fellowship that's amongst the class is something that's unique is that every class has a name.

So I'm Quintessence 11 and they have the Ogres and Onyx in back in the day, the Genesis and all the different classes.

I think that's something that's very unique is a sense of belonging to each class.

And so the seniors, they pass on their legacy to the freshmen every year.

And I think that's one of the things that makes Hampton unique in itself, that each class has its own name, its own identity, its own sense of belonging.

ZAARIAH BRANDON: I've had amazing opportunities and I've met a lot of really great people that I wouldn't have met otherwise.

I've been able to have one on one sit downs and conversations with President Harvey.

That is something that I would have never expected.

I think what's so special and great about education at an HBCU is really it's an experience.

I think people use that word a lot when they describe HBCU education.

Not only are you gaining a top quality education, but you're also gaining a wonderful education in an environment that you can thrive in.

What makes Hampton special to me is the community and the family aspect.

Soon as I came to campus, I really did feel like I was welcomed with open arms.

EWELL: I am actually from the Hampton Roads area.

Born and raised in Chesapeake, um lived in Norfolk for a while, lived in Hampton for a very long while and visited the campus like constantly.

I kind of felt like this was home for me.

Dr. Harvey became like a big brother to me.

He instilled in me something I call advocacy journalism.

I was doing stories here that nobody else was doing in the Hampton Roads area.

Nobody was caring about minority colleges and universities.

I was coming here to do those stories at his asking, and I did them.

I did them because I cared.

I did them because they meant something to me.

I waited about 2 hours one time just to get an interview with Rosa Parks right there on the bench that's right next to the Emancipation Oak.

That was iconic for me.

That was historic.

She did more than just not give up her seat.

A lot of people have followed in her footsteps, like Dr. Harvey in not giving up his seat, you know, not giving up um, the legacy to move forward and...to give not only the city, but this this country something that it's needed.

And it's a grounding.

ISAAC DEVINE: You know, the first wow experience for me being on the campus, I stayed at VC, Virginia Cleveland.

And so being there right there on the water and being here as a freshman, being able to come out of my dorm and be on the water to have picnics on the waterfront.

And that camaraderie that we got with other students was phenomenal.

SPELLS: With Virginia Cleveland Hall, it was built by students.

It's one of the oldest buildings on the campus.

The students raised the money and they built the building brick by brick.

And so we have been fortunate to still have that building on campus.

Female freshman students live in it.

I started working at Hampton in 1980 and we fell in love with the place, Virginia, the area, and then even more so with Hampton University.

And we found that this area was a great place not only for us to live, but to raise our family.

And so it became a way of life for us.

Hampton is a place we work hard, but we play hard too.

(Quiet saxophone playing) JACQUELINE HRABOWSKI: I pledged Delta in 1968 and probably because it was in my DNA and background, I got a Delta scholarship from high school and it was the start of real friendship and sisterhood.

As you know, Hampton's song has a verse in it that has been a powerful one, that has guided my life and my husband's life, and that is let your life do the singing.

NORMA HARVEY: This house predates the college.

It was built in 1828.

Since moving in, we have made it a house that can entertain, as we have the presidents of the United States, governors.

We've had some great artists in this home John Biggers, Lois Mailou Jones and others.

We have an extensive art collection that we've collected for many years and we are very very proud of this collection.

DR. VANESSA THAXTON-WARD: The Hampton University Museum was founded in 1868 when Samuel Chapman Armstrong, our founder, founded the school and it was called at that time a curiosity room.

As the oldest African-American museum in the United States, as well as one of the oldest in Virginia, we stand out.

General Armstrong wrote his mother, who was a missionary in Hawaii, and asked that, instead of sending money, would she send objects.

And what he was interested in doing was teaching the newly freed African-Americans about their culture, as well as other cultures.

And as a curiosity room these pieces were sent and shipped and collected and put into cases.

And the students could use them as hands on objects.

So they used them in the classroom.

And of course, through the years, we have continued to develop and grow until where we are today.

So we had a very early curator, uh Cora May Folsom, who taught here at Hampton as well, and she began to really catalog the objects and make sure that they were protected as far as preservation and all.

And then, of course, Hampton became the home of a world famous piece, "The Banjo Lesson" by Henry O. Tanner.

So we began to collect African-American art and the Tanner piece, "The Banjo Lesson" was donated by Robert Ogden, who was on the board of Hampton.

Hampton owns 200 years of African-American fine art.

So we have the chronology of African-American artists, again, beginning with Henry O. Tanner's "Banjo Lesson," as well as the "Bagpipe Lesson" and other pieces by Tanner, Duncanson.

We move through the Renaissance.

We have all of the major players like William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett.

And then we just progressed.

And also Hampton had a very, very strong art program.

So in 1943, with uh Victor Longfell, who was a teacher here, he basically trained some of our most significant artists of the 20th century.

DR. THAXTON-WARD: We have a world class collection not only of African-American fine art, but African art.

We were some of the earliest collectors of African art, American Indian, Asian and Oceanic.

We also have the history of the school.

WILSON: Hampton University is one of a kind, which is one of the reasons I came here, a university with a campus that is probably one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever seen.

You can sit outside on one of the benches with the beautiful statues that have a history that goes back to the 1800's.

And so you're going to feel like you're a part of a family here.

GAIL BISHOP: I love my job.

And I can sit here and talk to you all day long about my job, my horses and the kids.

My title is Horse Keeper and I take care of the horses and help take care of the grounds.

We teach the kids horsemanship, which is basically how to take care of the horses.

Groom the horses, saddle 'em and maintenance of them.

And we have when the vet comes to give their shots, they come out and see that if a horse gets hurt.

If I can contact them, they come out and watch him sew 'em up or whatever it is that he has to do.

Then we teach them how to ride, and that's the basics of it.

Part of Dr. Harvey's vision was that you have inner city kids that don't have a chance to see horses or be with horses, and he thought this would be a good opportunity for them.

And then during the summertime, they started a Read to Ride program and they called it "Riders."

And it was to get kids more involved in reading through books and through writing.

So if you read a chapter, you got a lesson.

And when you finish the book, you know, you just keep going.

Doc's Horse Pirate, was one of the first horses that came here.

Pirate's the oldest now, he's old.

And I mean, when he goes, if he goes before I go, I will miss that horse because he's been here.

The horses have been here.

They...they're part of you.

It's just like your kids.

It's just like part of your family.

REV.

JESSE JACKSON: Men like Dr. Harvey don't come like grapes in bunches.

They're rare and they are beautiful.

And we experience not just the comfort of the shade of their shadows.

We're energized by their sun beams, by their glow.

FORMER GOV.

MCDONNELL: I call him a man for all seasons.

And I do that because it doesn't matter if you're Black, white, brown, Republican, Democrat.

Bill Harvey will look at you based on the content of your character as Dr. King said.

FORMER GOV.

ALLEN: The thing that I appreciate most, and this is a rarity in the world of politics, where everything is so transactional, but he's one that no matter whether I was in office or out of office, he was a friend.

And that is so rare and so unique and something that I greatly appreciate.

FORMER GOV.

WILDER: Well we're good friends because we tell it like it is to each other.

We don't always agree, but we've never lost friendship.

REP. SCOTT: I still remember a tennis tournament.

We played against each other.

It must have been at least 30 years ago.

He beat me and then retired from tennis and I never had a rematch.

And I resent that.

And I remember it.

And I'm sure he remembers it, too.

YOUNG JR.: Hampton University is one of the wonders of the world, and I wish there were a thousand more.

DR. WILLIAM R. HARVEY: I have been enormously blessed to provide leadership for 44 years to this wonderful place.

I happen to be one who believes very strongly in results.

So to be able to provide the leadership to take us from where we were to where we are, it's uh an enormous pleasure.

But it also is an enormous blessing.

Before I became president, Hampton had not balanced its budget for two decades, and we've balanced it every year since we've been here.

Because a lot of people don't understand whether or not in their private enterprise or in a public one, that there are two sides to a budget.

You've got an expense side, but you've got a revenue side.

And so what we set out to do was to increase the revenue side, and we've been able to do that.

Now we got over 400 million.

We could have probably had a billion if we hadn't used some of the money to uh, enhance this beautiful place.

But I do believe that this is the loveliest campus in the entire world.

We've got water on three sides.

And what we've done purposefully is to blend majestically the old buildings with the new.

There were some that wanted me to tear down the old buildings and just build new.

I didn't want to do that.

As I said, I wanted to blend them together and we have done that I think very well.

DR. HARVEY: And that wasn't just me.

Again, that was a team, including the outside architects and builders and the like.

And if you look at the buildings, the new and the old, it really is just a marvelous campus.

You ask which one was pretty special to me.

It's the whole thing.

There is no one favorite place.

This whole campus is favorite because it gives me a sense of pride everywhere I go.

My wife and I have been collecting African-American art since 1971.

We have probably one of the largest collections um, in individual hands in the entire country.

So I wanted to make sure that our students were exposed to the wonderful aspects of African-American art.

I don't think that people ought to just receive.

I think you ought to give and receive.

So I didn't want our students to come here and just receive.

I want them to understand that they have a responsibility for giving back.

They have a responsibility for helping others.

That's what I was taught by my parents, by my mentors.

And I believe so strongly in helping others and giving back because so many people have helped me, you know.

And unfortunately, so many people today believe that this is an entitlement society, it's not.

You know, you've got to help others.

All I can say is thank you for the opportunity to provide that leadership.

I don't look at it as what Hampton has has given me.

I look at what I have given Hampton, and I'm as pleased as I can be because I have been given the opportunity to serve.

I think that that's one of the best things that anybody can ever give an individual, if uh, they have the power, the opportunity, the wherewithal to help and serve others.

And that's what Hampton has given to my family and me.

And one of my greatest hopes is that the next president can take us even higher than where we are now.

That would please me um, more than anything that I know of um at the moment.

(Quiet jazzy piano music) ISAAC DEVINE: It's interesting to kind of think about what Hampton is without Dr. William R. Harvey, but you know that even when he is no longer the sitting president, you know, his impact and his legacy will be felt not just for years to come, but generations to come.

(Quiet jazzy piano music and saxophone fades out) DR. HARVEY: His message is one of hope.

Hope for all of us.

Hope for tomorrow.

It is only every once in a while that a person like our next speaker comes along.

And I will ask all of you to pray godly wisdom on this young man and his campaign.

(Applause) I present to you Senator Barack Obama, our hope for tomorrow.

(Crowd cheers and applauds] FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you.

Oh, thank you.

Giving all praise and honor to God, bringing me here today.

It is an extraordinary honor to have an opportunity to be here at Hampton.

It's a privilege to stand with so many ministers from across this country.

And, we thank God and his blessings for this wonderful day.

I want to thank University President Dr. William Harvey with all the excellent work that he's done.

Thank you.