| Virginia Union University | |
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| Established | 1865 |
| Type | Private, HBCU |
| Religious affiliation | American Baptist Churches USA & National Baptist Convention |
| Endowment | $29 million |
| President | Dr. Claude G. Perkins |
| Students | 1,700 |
| Location | Richmond, Virginia, United States |
| Campus | Urban, 84 acres (33.99 ha) |
| Colors | Maroon and Steel |
| Athletics | NCAA Division II |
| Nickname | Panthers |
| Affiliations | Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
| Website | www.vuu.edu |
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Virginia Union University
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| Location: | 1500 N. Lombardy St., Richmond, Virginia, United States |
| Area: | 11 acres (4.5 ha) |
| Built: | 1899 |
| Architect: | John H. Coxhead |
| Architectural style: | Richardsonian Romanesque |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: |
82004590 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | July 26, 1982 |
Virginia Union University (VUU) is a historically black university located in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It took its present name in 1899 upon the merger of two older schools, Richmond Theological Institute and Wayland Seminary, each founded after the end of American Civil War by the American Baptist Home Mission Society. VUU's 84-acre (34 ha) campus is located at 1500 North Lombardy Street in Richmond's North Side.
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Virginia Union University stated mission is to "1) Provide a nurturing intellectually challenging and spiritually enriching environment for learning; 2) Empower students to develop strong moral values for success; and 3) Develop scholars, leaders, and lifelong learners of a global society."[2]
The University was founded in 1865 to give the newly emancipated freedmen an opportunity for education of the mind in an ethical, religious environment. Excellent teaching and enlightened guidance for all students remain the institution's primary emphases. An historically black university, Virginia Union University embraces the uniqueness and contributions of the African Diaspora, celebrating the value of cultural and intellectual diversity. However, enrollment is open to all students without regard to racial background.
Seeking to empower students for the pursuit of life-long learning, the University provides comprehensive undergraduate liberal arts programs and graduate education for Christian ministries. To this end, a guiding principle of the University's educational program is a strong focus upon moral values and ethics, and students are encouraged to engage in activities that promote self-actualization.
| Malcolm MacVicar | 1899–1904 | First President |
| Dr. George Rice Hovey | 1904–1918 | Second President |
| Mr. William John Clark | 1919–1941 | Third President |
| Dr. John Malcus Ellison* | 1941–1955 | Fourth President |
| Dr. Samuel Dewitt Proctor | 1955–1960 | Fifth President |
| Dr. Thomas Howard Henderson | 1960–1970 | Sixth President |
| Dr. Allix Bledsoe James | 1970–1979 | Seventh President |
| Dr. David Thomas Shannon | 1979–1985 | Eighth President |
| Dr. S. Dallas Simmons | 1985–1999 | Ninth President |
| Dr. Bernard Wayne Franklin | 1999–2003 | Tenth President |
| Dr. Belinda C. Anderson | 2003–2008 | Eleventh President |
| Dr. Claude G. Perkins | 2009–present | Twelfth President |
| *first VUU alumnus and African-American to serve as President of the University | ||
The American Baptist Home Mission Society founded the school in 1865 shortly after Union troops took control of Richmond, Virginia, at the end of the American Civil War. Approximately 4 million former African American slaves, or freedmen, were to become citizens, although many had been deprived of formal education and prevented from becoming literate by Southern state laws. Southern states were in upheaval after the war. Both planters and freedmen were trying to figure out what a free labor market would entail.
Members of the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) proposed a "National Theological Institute" to educate freedmen wishing to enter the Baptist ministry.[3] Soon, the proposed mission was expanded to offer courses and programs at college, high school and even preparatory levels, to both men and women. 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 Dr. Francis Wayland, former president of Brown University and a leader in the anti-slavery struggle. The first and only president was Dr. George Mellen Prentiss King, who administered Wayland for thirty years (1867–97). Famous students there included Dr. Booker T. Washington and Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. [3]
In Richmond, the efforts were more difficult. Beginning in 1867, Colver Institute, a VUU predecessor school, was housed in a building long known as Lumpkin's Jail, a former "slave jail" owned by Mrs. Mary Ann Lumpkin, the African-American widow of the deceased white owner. In 1899, the Richmond Theological Institute (formerly Colver Institute) joined with Wayland Seminary of Washington, D.C. to form Virginia Union University at Richmond.
In 1932, the women's college Hartshorn Memorial College,[4][5] established in Richmond, Virginia in 1883, became a part of Virginia Union University. Storer College, an historically black Baptist college in West Virginia (founded in 1867), merged its endowment with Virginia Union in 1964.
Virginia Union University's Theological training program is called "The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University". The school of theology is known for producing preachers such as Dr. James Henry Harris, Dr John W. Kinney. The School is a member of the Washington Theological Consortium.[6]
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.[7]
Virginia Union plays basketball and volleyball in the Barco-Stevens Hall (also known as the Belgian Building), which was first built in 1939 as the Belgium Building for the New York World’s Fair. It was listed in the June 20, 2005 edition of the NCAA News as one of 13 athletic facilities around the country which are worthy of “unique” distinction. The Belgium Building, with its stone reliefs of the Belgian Congo on the walls, was awarded to VUU after a competition among the nation’s 23 historically black colleges in 1941. Relocation of the building to its current location on the VUU campus was completed in 1943, and the VUU men’s basketball team played its first game in January, 1947.[8]
Under the leadership of head coach Dave Robbins since 1978, the Panthers basketball program has been to the Division II "Final Four" seven times (1980, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2006) and have won three NCAA Division II national championship titles (1980, 1992, 2005). The team was the 2006 National runner-up with a record of 30-4. The team has also captured the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association conference championship 20 times.
The school plays in an annual exhibition game with the Division I cross-town rival Virginia Commonwealth University. Coach Robbins' program has produced eight NBA players, including Detroit Pistons star center Ben Wallace, and former New York Knicks power forward Charles Oakley.[9]
The women's basketball team won the NCAA Women's Division II Basketball Championship in 1983 [10]
| Name | Class year | Notability | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Atkins | 2002 | Former NFL player | |
| Mamye BaCote | 1961 | Virginia House of Delegates (2004-present) | |
| Bessye J. Bearden | 1900's | Journalist and Social Activist; mother of artist Romare Bearden | |
| Simeon Booker | 1941 | award-winning Journalist and the first African-American Reporter for the Washington Post | |
| Michael Brim | 1988 | National Football League player | |
| Roslyn M. Brock | 1987 | Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) | |
| Henry Allen Bullock | 1928 | Historian, winner of the Bancroft Prize | |
| Emmett C. Burns, Jr. | Maryland House of Delegates (1995-2006) | ||
| Terry Davis | Former NBA player | [9] | |
| Will Downing | attended | R&B Singer | |
| AJ English | Professional Basketball Player | [9] | |
| Walter Fauntroy | 1955 | Civil rights leader, minister, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, from Washington, D.C.'s At-large district and was a candidate for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination | |
| Dr. Anderson J. Franklin | Professor of Psychology at the School of Education at Boston College | [11] | |
| Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. | 1948 | first African-American to reach the rank of Admiral in the United States Navy | |
| Abram Lincoln Harris | 1922 | Economist; Chair, Economics Dept. Howard University (1936-1945); Professor University of Chicago | |
| Pete Hunter | 2002 | National Football League player | |
| Eugene Kinckle Jones | 1906 | Member of the Black Cabinet under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. | |
| Dwight Clinton Jones | 1967 | Mayor of Richmond, Virginia (2009-present) | |
| Howard S. Jones (inventor) | 1943 | Inventor, microwave systems hardware; 31 U.S. Patents | |
| Charles Spurgeon Johnson | 1916 | first black President of Fisk University | |
| Lyman T. Johnson | 1930 | integrated the University of Kentucky | |
| Leontine T. Kelly | 1960 | a Bishop of the United Methodist Church | |
| Henry L. Marsh | 1956 | first African-American Mayor of Richmond, Virginia and Member of the Virginia Senate from the 16th district | |
| Bai T. Moore | Liberian author and poet | ||
| Delores McQuinn | 1976 | Virginia House of Delegates (2009-present) | |
| Charles Oakley | Professional Basketball Player | [9] | |
| Wendell H. Phillips | member, Maryland House of Delegates (1979-1987) | ||
| Samuel DeWitt Proctor | 1942 | President of VUU and president of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he made close acquaintance with then student body president Jesse Jackson | |
| Randall Robinson | Attorney; Founder of TransAfrica | ||
| James R. Roebuck, Jr. | 1966 | member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 188 | |
| Spottswood William Robinson III | 1937 | Prominent Civil Rights Attorney, Dean of Howard University Law School, First African American to be appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia | |
| Wyatt T Walker | Activist, civil rights motivator, musician, Theologian who gave letter to Dr. Martin Luther King from Coretta; close confidant and preacher | ||
| Ben Wallace | Professional Basketball Player, NBA Defensive Player of the Year, NBA Champions; Detroit Pistons | [9] | |
| Douglas Wilder | 1951 | first African-American Governor of Virginia (1990-1994) and Mayor of Richmond (2005-2009) | |
| Donald F. Turner | Professor at Harvard Law School |
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