Virginia State University

Virginia State University. Ettrick, Virginia. , Virginia State University was chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1882 as the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. Delegate Alfred W. Harris, an African American attorney in Petersburg, championed the charter and supported it through the ensuing lawsuits attempting to stop its existence. The school was the country's first for African Americans authorized to grant a college degree, to have an African American board of visitors, and to have an all-African American faculty by charter. A year and a half after being chartered, the school was built and opened. In 1902 the college program was abolished and the name was changed to the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. The college courses were restored in 1922. In 1930, the college was renamed the Virginia State College for Negroes, and in 1946 it became Virginia State University (VSU). Its first president, John Mercer Langston, went on in 1888 to be the only Black from Virginia elected to serve in the U.S. Congress (a record he held until 1992). In its first year, VSU had 126 students and 7 faculty, all Black. By 1982, a century after being chartered, there was a fully integrated student body of nearly 5,000 and an integrated, 250-member full-time faculty. The school's facilities had multiplied as well, from 1 to more than 50 buildings., [Captions:] , The graduating class of 1886 with three faculty members. Seated from left to right: President John M. Langston, Robert Green (student), Mrs. Ida R. Harris (faculty), and Professor James Colson Jr. Students standing, from left to right: James Shields, Lucretia Campbell, Susie Douglas, Fannie Walker, Carrie Bragg, Willie Davis, and Jerry Lucas., John Mercer Langston was the first president of the school now known as Virginia State University. He was the third head of the institution, following two principals, James Storum and James M. Colson, Jr., Langston was the first to hold the title of president. He served from January 1886 to December 1887., Old Virginia Hall, the original building on the VSU campus. It contained classrooms, a library, student dormitories, a cafeteria, administrative offices, faculty housing, an infirmary, and an auditorium. It was torn down in the 1930s and replaced by the modern-day Virginia Hall, which is smaller in size.