By Jerica Deck

Special to the AFRO

​

Following community backlash over a highway expansion plan that would jeopardize the historic Emancipation Oak tree on the campus of Hampton University, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne announced Nov. 17 that the Virginia Department of Transportation would not continue with those plans.

​

The Emancipation Oak, is culturally significant to the African American community because it is the place many slaves first learned they were emancipated in 1863. 

“Emancipation Oak was named one of the Ten Great Trees of the World, and that was by the National Geographic Society,” Hampton University President William Harvey said at a press conference. “As stewards of this land, Hampton University will fight to protect it into perpetuity.”