Exie Lee Hampton (1893 – 1979), born Exie Lee Kelley, was an American educator, community leader and clubwoman in Southern California. She served on the national board of the YWCA during World War II, and was executive director of the Eastside Settlement House in Los Angeles after the war.

Exie Lee Hampton
A young Black woman, in profile, in an oval frame
Exie Lee Hampton, from the 1924 yearbook of West Virginia Institute
Born
Exie Lee Kelley

1893
Boone County, Missouri
Died1979
San Diego, California
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)educator, community leader
Years active1921-1967

Early life

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Exie Lee Kelley (or Kelly) was born in Boone County, Missouri. She attended Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri,[1] and Kansas State Agricultural College,[2] earning a bachelor's degree in home economics. She pursued further training in summer sessions at Columbia University and the University of Southern California.[3]

Career

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Hampton was a home economics teacher. By 1921, she was a teacher-trainer at West Virginia State College, at Wilberforce University,[3] and at Branch Normal School in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.[4][5] She taught for five years at East Side High School in El Centro, California.[3][6]

In the early 1930s, she became executive director of the Clay Street Clubs, which she developed with others into the Clay Avenue YWCA, a branch that served African-American girls and women in San Diego's Logan Heights neighborhood.[3][7] She left the San Diego work to join the national board of the YWCA, in the USO division, during World War II.[8] She was also active in the San Diego chapter of the NAACP.[9]

In 1946, she became executive director of the Eastside Settlement House in Los Angeles.[8][10][11] In 1961, she was leader of the Victoria Business and Professional Women's Club of Riverside, California.[12] She was on the first board of directors of the Inland Area Urban League, when it started in 1966.[13]

Hampton was active in the black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha for many years. In 1937, she attended and spoke at the western regional conference of the group.[14] In 1950, she chaired the western regional conference.[15][16][17]

Personal life

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Exie Lee Kelley married a pastor, Charles H. Hampton, in 1929, and as the pastor's wife was active in women's groups in the Baptist churches in El Centro and San Diego.[18] Rev. Hampton was president of the Western Baptist State Convention for over thirty years, before he died in 1979.[19] Exie Lee Hampton also died in 1979, in San Diego, in her eighties.

References

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  1. ^ Annual catalogue of Lincoln Institute (1912-1913): 54. via Internet Archive 
  2. ^ Annual Catalogue of the Officers, Students and Graduates of the Kansas State Agricultural College (1918): 395.
  3. ^ a b c d "Who's Who in California: Mrs. Exie Lee K. Hampton" California Negro Directory 1942-1943 (New Age Publishing 1942): 217. via Internet Archive 
  4. ^ "Home Economics Conference" The Southern Workman (July 1921): 328.
  5. ^ "First Federal Board Conference at Hampton" The Broad Ax (June 11, 1921): 3. via Newspapers.com
  6. ^ "El Centro, Calif." Chicago Defender (April 25, 1931): 20. via ProQuest
  7. ^ Charla Wilson, "Why The Y?: The Origin of San Diego YWCA’s Clay Avenue Branch for African Americans" Journal of San Diego History 62(July 2016): 303-322.
  8. ^ a b "Former YWCA Worker Appointed House Head" Pittsburgh Courier (July 27, 1946): 8. via Newspapers.com
  9. ^ "San Diego NAACP Drive for Members Scores" California Eagle (July 9, 1942): 7. via Internet Archive 
  10. ^ Karin L. Stanford, African Americans in Los Angeles (Arcadia Publishing 2010): 30. ISBN 9780738580944
  11. ^ "Settlement House Children Given Christmas Party" Los Angeles Times (December 10, 1949): 17. via Newspapers.com
  12. ^ "Riverside's First NAACP Life Membership" The Crisis (December 1961): 623.
  13. ^ "First Urban League Meet" San Bernardino County Sun (March 25, 1966): 21. via Newspapers.com
  14. ^ Fay M. Jackson, "75 Delegates Gather at Very Successful Regional Confab" Pittsburgh Courier (July 17, 1937): 8. via Newspapers.com
  15. ^ "AKA Sorors Plan Regional" Chicago Defender (February 18, 1950): 9. via ProQuest
  16. ^ Tomi Ayers, "West Coast Roundup" Chicago Defender (July 15, 1950): 9. via ProQuest
  17. ^ "Urban League Re-Elects Fisk as President" San Bernardino County Sun (February 11, 1967): 25. via Newspapers.com
  18. ^ Georgia Mae Burleigh, "El Centra" Chicago Defender (October 25, 1930): 21. via ProQuest
  19. ^ Church History Archived 2019-02-04 at the Wayback Machine, Bethel Baptist Church.
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