Early Life

Benjamin K. Sampson, was very interested in education from an early age. He was first educated in a school house on his father's property that not only taught him and his siblings but, other free blacks and even slaves. While learning in his father's school house, his father James noticed his interest in education and even hired him a private tutor from Massachusettes. Benjamin would later attend a private school in New Burn where his teacher, James S. Stanley would teach him grammatical literature which would help him pursue a higher education.