Richmond Theological Seminary (RTS) was a higher education institution in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, serving former slaves after the American Civil War. It had its beginnings in November 1865 when the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) sponsored

Joseph Getchell Binney Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(formerly of

Columbian College , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

in Washington, DC, and later of Karen Theological Seminary in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, Burma) a short-lived class in Richmond, VA for theological training of African-Americans. Around the same time, the National Theological Institute of Washington, DC was forming schools for ministerial training of freedmen in Washington and

Augusta, GA Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgi ...

. They sponsored

Nathaniel Colver Nathaniel Colver (born in Orwell, Vermont, 10 May 1794; died in Chicago, 25 December 1870) was an American Baptist clergyman. Biography Colver's father, a Baptist minister, moved, while Nathaniel was a child, to Champlain, in northern New York, ...

to form a school in Richmond, VA, which commenced in Lumpkin's Jail, formerly a slave trading facility, in late 1867. Robert Ryland was hired as an instructor the first year. Both Dr. Colver and Dr. Ryland resigned after one year, and in 1868,

Charles Henry Corey Charles Henry Corey (1834-1899), was a Canadian Baptist clergyman. Biography Corey was born at New Canaan, New Brunswick on 12 December 1834. He graduated from Acadia College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia in 1858, and from Newton Theological Seminary ...

was transferred from the

Augusta Institute , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliation ...

(which was later to become

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

) and commenced classes in October. At the recommendation of Dr. Ryland, a female instructor was hired at half the pay he had received. The school took the name Colver Institute in 1869. In 1876 the school was incorporated as the Richmond Institute only to be reincorporated as the Richmond Theological Seminary in 1886 after it became the central college for advanced theological training of Black Baptist ministers in the South. In 1870, the National Theological Institute was absorbed by the ABHMS, which carried on its work in Augusta and Richmond, and merged operations in Washington into its

Wayland Seminary Wayland Seminary was the Washington, D.C. school of the National Theological Institute. The institute was established beginning in 1865 by the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS). At first designed primarily for providing education and tra ...

. Charles Corey headed the RTS for 30 years. In the 1890s, Corey was instrumental in the merging of the Richmond Theological Seminary with the

to form Virginia Union University. In 1895, Corey wrote a history of the school
The L. Douglas Wilder Library and Learning Resource Center
holds the records of the Richmond Theological Seminary.

References

Virginia Union University Seminaries and theological colleges in Virginia History of Richmond, Virginia {{Virginia-university-stub