Virginia Union University

By: Dr Raymond Hylton

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Synopsis: Since its founding by the American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1865, Virginia Union University has nurtured its students for nearly 150 years. Its first campus was established on the site of the Lumpkin slave prison in what was then the notorious Shockoe Bottom district of Richmond, Virginia, thus replacing a horrific purpose with one dedicated to education and enlightenment. Four historically black institutions came together into one university: Richmond Theological Seminary, Wayland Seminary, Hartshorn Memorial College for African American women, and Storer College. Overcoming Jim Crow laws and racial adversity, Virginia Union University became the center of a renowned theological school and a focal point during the civil rights movement, matriculating leaders such as Wyatt Tee Walker, Walter Fauntroy, and Elizabeth Rice and igniting the Richmond Campaign for Human Dignity in the wake of the arrest of the Virginia Union 34 during the 1960 sit-ins. Today, Virginia Union is a vibrant urban university offering graduate education in ministry, Christian education, and divinity and undergraduate degrees through the Schools of Business, Humanities & Social Sciences, Education, Psychology & Interdisciplinary Studies, and Mathematics, Science & Technology. Under the leadership of Dr. Claude Grandford Perkins, Virginia Union's 12th president, the university carries on its proud legacy of achievement.