Virginia Union University is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

university in Richmond, Virginia. It is affiliated with the

American Baptist Churches USA The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainl ...

History

Pickford Hall, Virginia Union University

The

American Baptist Home Mission Society The American Baptist Home Mission Society is a Christian missionary society. Its main predecessor the Home Mission Society was established in New York City in 1832 to operate in the American frontier, with the stated mission "to preach the Gospe ...

(ABHMS) founded the school as

Richmond Theological Institute Richmond Theological Seminary (RTS) was a higher education institution in Richmond, Virginia, serving former slaves after the American Civil War. It had its beginnings in November 1865 when the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) sponsor ...

in 1865 shortly after Union troops took control of Richmond, Virginia, at the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

to enter into the ministry. The college had the first academic library at an HBCU, building the library in 1865 the same year the college was established. Its mission was soon expanded to offer courses and programs at college, high school, and 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

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, and Richmond, Virginia, with classes beginning in 1867. In Washington, the school became known as

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 ...

, 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 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 ...

, who administered Wayland for thirty years (1867–1897). Famous students there included Dr.

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

and Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. 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

(formerly Colver and joined with Wayland Seminary of Washington in 1899 to form Virginia Union University at Richmond. In 1932, the

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

Hartshorn Memorial College, established in Richmond in 1883, became a part of Virginia Union University.

Storer College Storer College was a historically black college in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, that operated from 1867 to 1955. A national icon for Black Americans, in the town where the 'end of American slavery began', as Frederick Douglass famously put i ...

, a historically black

college in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

founded in 1867, merged its endowment with Virginia Union in 1964.

Academics

The university is divided into four main schools: *Evelyn Reid Syphax School of Education and Interdisciplinary Studies *School of Arts and Sciences *Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology *Sydney Lewis School of Business

Theology program

Virginia Union University's Theological training program is called "The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University". The school of theology has produced

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

s such as Dean John W. Kinney, Dr. Miles Jones, Dr. A.B. James, and Dr. James Henry Harris. The school is a member of the

Washington Theological Consortium The Washington Theological Consortium is an ecumenical organization of Christian theological schools and interfaith partners located in Washington, DC, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Members cooperate to deepen ecumenical unity in theologic ...

Student activities

Fraternities and sororities

All of the

National Pan-Hellenic Council The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...

organizations are currently at Virginia Union University. These organizations are:

Athletics

Virginia Union competes in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

in the Eastern Division of the

Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. CIAA institutions mostly consist of historically black coll ...

. 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. In 2018, both Virginia Union University's DII Men & Women's Basketball Teams won the CIAA Championship. Virginia Union plays basketball and volleyball in the Barco-Stevens Hall, built as the

Belgian Building The Belgian Friendship Building or Belgian Pavilion is the former exhibition building for Belgium from the 1939/1940 World's Fair in New York City. It now serves as Barco-Stevens Hall on the campus of Virginia Union University (VUU), in Richmond, ...

for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The building, which has stone reliefs depicting the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

, 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.

Affiliations

It is affiliated with the

. American Baptist Home Mission Societies
Colleges and Universities
abhms.org, USA, retrieved October 22, 2022

Notable alumni

File:Charles S. Johnson.jpg, Charles S. Johnson File:Robinson spotswood.jpg,

Spottswood William Robinson III Spottswood William Robinson III (July 26, 1916 – October 11, 1998) was an American educator, civil rights attorney, and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after previously s ...

File:Douglas Wilder 2003 NIH.jpg, Douglas Wilder File:BenWallaceCloseup.jpg, Ben Wallace File:Donald McEachin portrait 116th Congress (cropped).jpg,

Donald McEachin Aston Donald McEachin ( ; October 10, 1961 – November 28, 2022) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 4th congressional district from 2017 until his death in 2022. His district was based in ...

References

External links

Virginia Union UniversityVirginia Union University athletics
{{authority control University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Historically black universities and colleges in the United States Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Private universities and colleges in Virginia Universities and colleges affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA Seminaries and theological colleges in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, Virginia Baptist Christianity in Virginia Educational institutions established in 1865 Education in Richmond, Virginia Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools African-American history in Richmond, Virginia 1865 establishments in Virginia