Virginia Union University Explained

Virginia Union University
Former Names:Colver Institute (1865–1886)[1]
Richmond Theological Institute (1886–1899)
Wayland Seminary (1865–1899)
Hartshorn Memorial College (1883–1932)
Motto:The Lord Will Provide
Type:Private historically black university
Endowment:$29 million
President:Hakim Lucas
Students:1,700
City:Richmond
State:Virginia
Country:United States
Campus:Urban
Colors:Maroon and Steel
Nickname:Panthers
Athletics Affiliations:NCAA Division II – CIAA
Website:www.vuu.edu
Nrhp:
Embed:yes
Virginia Union University
Designated Other1:Virginia Landmarks Register
Designated Other1 Date:June 16, 1981[2]
Designated Other1 Number:127-0354
Designated Other1 Num Position:bottom
Location:1500 N. Lombardy St., Richmond, Virginia, United States
Built:1899
Architect:John H. Coxhead
Architecture:Richardsonian Romanesque
Added:July 26, 1982
Refnum:82004590

Virginia Union University is a private historically black university in Richmond, Virginia.

History

The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Richmond Theological Institute in 1865 shortly after Union troops took control of Richmond, Virginia, at the end of the American Civil War, for African-American freedmen to enter into the ministry.[3] The college had the first academic library at a historically black college or university (HBCU), building the library in 1865 which was the same year the college was established.[4]

Its mission was soon expanded to offer courses and programs at college, high school, and preparatory levels, to both men and women.[5] This effort was the beginning of Virginia Union University. Separate branches of the National Theological Institute were set up in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, with classes beginning in 1867. In Washington, the school became known as Wayland Seminary, named in commemoration of Francis Wayland, former president of Brown University and a leader in the anti-slavery struggle. The first and only president there was George Mellen Prentiss King, who administered Wayland for thirty years (1867–1897). Famous students there included Booker T. Washington and Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.[5]

Beginning in 1867, Colver Institute was housed in a building long known as Lumpkin's Jail, a former "slave jail" owned by Mary Ann Lumpkin, the African-American widow of the deceased white owner. It became Richmond Theological Institute (formerly Colver) and joined with Wayland Seminary of Washington in 1899 to form Virginia Union University at Richmond.[6]

In 1932, the women's college Hartshorn Memorial College,[7] [8] established in Richmond in 1883, became a part of Virginia Union University. Storer College, a historically black Baptist college in West Virginia founded in 1867, merged its endowment with Virginia Union in 1964.[9]

List of presidents
NameTerm
Malcolm MacVicar1899–1904
George Rice Hovey1904–1918
William John Clark1919–1941
John Malcus Ellison1941–1955
Samuel Dewitt Proctor1955–1960
Thomas Howard Henderson1960–1970
Allix Bledsoe James1970–1979
David Thomas Shannon1979–1985
S. Dallas Simmons1985–1999
Bernard Wayne Franklin1999–2003
Belinda C. Anderson2003–2008
Claude G. Perkins2009–2016
Joseph F. Johnson2016–2017 (acting)
Hakim J. Lucas2017–present
  • first alumnus and African-American to serve as president of the university

Academics

The university is divided into four main schools:[10]

Theology program

Virginia Union University's Theological training program is called The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology. James Henry Harris, the early American civil rights advocate, was a graduate. The school is a member of the Washington Theological Consortium.[11]

Student activities

There are over 20 student organizations, including several fraternities and sororities.

Athletics

See main article: Virginia Union Panthers. Virginia Union competes in the NCAA Division II in the Eastern Division of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The school has varsity teams in men's basketball, football, cross country, golf, tennis and track and field, and in women's basketball, bowling, cross country, tennis and track and field, softball and volleyball.[12]

In 2018, both Virginia Union University's DII Men & Women's Basketball Teams won the CIAA Championship.[13] Virginia Union plays basketball and volleyball in the Barco-Stevens Hall, built as the Belgian Building for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The building, which has stone reliefs depicting the Belgian Congo, was one of thirteen facilities designated as "unique" by NCAA News in 2005. The building was awarded to the university in 1941 and moved to its present location in 1943. The basketball team began using the facility in early 1947.[14]

Affiliations

It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. [15]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Nathaniel Colver . encyclopediavirginia.org . Encyclopedia Virginia . December 14, 2022 . December 14, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221214125949/https://encyclopediavirginia.org/10189-c764a3d149657bf/ . live .
  2. Web site: Virginia Landmarks Register . Virginia Department of Historic Resources . March 19, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053819/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_counties_cities.htm . September 21, 2013 . dead .
  3. Raymond Pierre Hylton, Virginia Union University, Arcadia Publishing, USA, 2014, p. 7
  4. Wheeler, Maurice, et al. “A Brief History of Library Service to African Americans.” American Libraries, vol. 35, no. 2, 2004, pp. 42–45. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25649066
  5. Encyclopedia: Virginia Union University (1865–) . Online Encyclopedia of Significant People and Places in African American History . January 10, 2010 . Blackpast.org . May 12, 2012 . May 31, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120531110442/http://blackpast.org/?q=aah/virginia-union-university-1865 . live .
  6. William H. Brackney, Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 174
  7. Web site: A Guide to the Hartshorn Memorial College Reunion Collection 1976–1980 . L. Douglas Wilder Library Archives . February 7, 1980 . November 30, 2013 . October 9, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141009211528/http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/vuu/virvu00002.document . live .
  8. Web site: Virginia Archives Month October 2007: Images in Celebration . Library of Virginia Archives . November 30, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090103082229/http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwedo/archweek/2007/gallery.asp?inst=12 . January 3, 2009 . dead .
  9. Web site: Hylton . Raymond . University History . About Virginia Union . Virginia Union University . May 26, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120512103226/http://www.vuu.edu/about_vuu/history.aspx . May 12, 2012.
  10. Web site: Virginia Union University | Schools . September 12, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150905054542/http://www.vuu.edu/academics/schools.aspx . September 5, 2015 . dead.
  11. Web site: Member Institutions . . September 1, 2009 . June 22, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090622070350/http://www.washtheocon.org/members.html . live .
  12. Web site: Men's Sports / Women's Sports . Virginia Union University Athletics website . November 30, 2013 . March 17, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220317074501/http://www.vuusports.com/ . live .
  13. Web site: Newsroom . NBC12 . VUU men's, women's basketball teams win CIAA Championship . February 4, 2021 . www.nbc12.com . March 4, 2018 . en-US . November 17, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201117175705/https://www.nbc12.com/story/37642056/vuu-mens-and-womens-basketball-teams-win-ciaa-championship/ . live .
  14. Web site: Facilities: Barco-Stevens Hall . Virginia Union University Athletics website . November 30, 2013 . December 3, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203011917/http://vuusports.com/sports/2008/4/9/GEN_0409081653.aspx . live .
  15. American Baptist Home Mission Societies, Colleges and Universities, abhms.org, USA, retrieved October 22, 2022