William Jasper Hale

Hale was born in rural poverty in Marion County, Tennessee, on September 26, 1874.[1][2] He was of mixed race, and was often mistaken for white.[3]

Hale attended Maryville College for several terms.[2][3]

Hale was a teacher in Coulterville, Retro and Chattanooga.[2][3] From 1912 to 1943, he served as the founding president of Tennessee State University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee.[2] Thanks to his efforts, TSU was accredited in 1933.[2] Hale expanded the campus, with the completion of six more buildings by 1935.[1] He was succeeded as president by Walter S. Davis in 1943. He fundraised $40,000 for the War savings stamps of the United States.[3]

Hale was the president of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools in 1927 and the president of the State Interracial Commission in 1929.[2] He was awarded the William E. Harmon Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes in 1930.[3] He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Wilberforce University in 1936, and another honorary doctorate from Howard University in 1939.[1]

Hale married Harriet Hodgkins.[3] They had three children.[3] His wife was his secretary at TSU, and their three children graduated from the university.[1][3]

Hale died on October 5, 1944, in New York City.[2][3] He is the namesake of Hale Stadium on the TSU campus.[4]