The History of Virginia State University

Virginia State University was founded on March 6, 1882, when the legislature passed a bill chartering the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. The bill was sponsored by Delegate Alfred W. Harris, a Black attorney with offices in Petersburg who lived in and represented Dinwiddie County in the General Assembly. A hostile lawsuit delayed the opening for nineteen months, until October 1, 1883. In 1902, the legislature revised the charter act to curtail the collegiate program and change the name to Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. In its first academic year, 1883-84, the institution had 126 students, seven faculty members, all of them Black, one building, 33 acres, a 200-book library, and a $20,000 budget. Its history included outstanding faculty and administration. The first person to bear the title of President, John Mercer Langston, was one of the best-known Black leaders of his day; until 1992, he was the only Black person ever elected to the United States Congress from Virginia, having been elected in 1888, and he was the great-uncle of writer Langston Hughes. From 1888 to 1968, four presidents—James H. Johnston, John M. Gandy, Luther H. Foster, and Robert P. Daniel, Ph.D.—served an average of 20 years, helping the school overcome adversity and move forward. During the next four decades, nine more presidents led the university to its current level of excellence, including James F. Tucker, Wendell P. Russell, Ed.D., Walker H. Quarles, Jr., Thomas M. Law, Ed.D., Wilbert Greenfield, Ph.D., Wesley C. McClure, Ph.D., Eddie N. Moore, Jr., Keith T. Miller, Ph.D., and Makola M. Abdullah, Ph.D.

Ettrick, Virginia · United States