Hampton University, accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Virginia, offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics to a student body of approximately 5,700. The school, a privately endowed, coeducational institution, was founded in 1868 as the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute to provide education to newly freed African Americans in the post-Civil War period of Reconstruction. Between 1878 and 1923, over 1,300 American Indian students representing sixty-five tribal groups also attended the school. A legacy of this aspect of the school's history is its rich archival and art collections.
Scholarships are available to eligible students from state or federally recognized tribal groups.