Jennings Ordinary, Virginia Explained

Jennings Ordinary
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community
Pushpin Map:Virginia#USA
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within the state of Virginia
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Virginia
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Nottoway
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population As Of:2000
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone:Eastern (EST)
Utc Offset:-5
Timezone Dst:EDT
Utc Offset Dst:-4
Elevation Ft:502
Coordinates:37.2228°N -78.1456°W
Postal Code Type:ZIP codes
Blank Name:GNIS ID
Blank Info:1493142

Jennings Ordinary is an unincorporated community in Nottoway County, Virginia, United States. It was also known as Jennings Store. In the summer of 1965, a house at 6313 Patrick Henry Highway in Jennings Ordinary became the first headquarters of the Virginia Students' Civil Rights Committee (VSCRC), a biracial organization of Virginia College students that grew out of a conference held at Hampton Institute in December 1964 by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), designed to move the experience of Mississippi's Freedom Summer project to Virginia.

In June, 1965, SNCC staffers Stokely Carmichael, Charlie Cobb and Chuck Neblett visited the house at Jennings Ordinary to train the students gathered there in the skills of community organizing. Part of their advice was to move out into several counties in the Southside Virginia Black Belt, which was done for the rest of VSCRC's existence in the 1960s.