William H. Ash was an early graduate of Hampton Institute. A former enslaved person, he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates during the 1887–1888 session. He was a successful teacher and regularly petitioned friends at Hampton for donations of reading material and other classroom supplies. In 1884, while attending a summer institute for educators in Farmville, Virginia, Ash participated in founding the Teachers Reading Circle, the first statewide organization of African American educators, and he was elected president of the short-lived group. In 2012, he was one of several African-Americans recognized by the MLK Commission and the Virginia Senate for being elected to the Virginia General Assembly during the Reconstruction Era.
