The History of VMI and its connection to Virginia's HBCUs

The introduction of the Virginia House of Delegates Bill (HB1374) to disband the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Board of Visitors (BOV) and transfer VMI's governance under Virginia State University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), is creating controversy. Questions were raised about the rationale for the move. Using research from an independent Peer Review of the June 2021 Barnes and Thornburg (B&T) report and other authoritative sources, The Cadet explores the historical relationships between VMI and HBCUs, generally, and VSU specifically, to inform our readers on this unique and essential aspect of the proposed legislation. Although HB1374 was significantly changed to no longer move VMI under VSU, the history of VMI's contributions remains important. Virginia created its HBCU system in complianc with the Higher Education Act of 1965 that defined an HBCU as being "…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of Black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary of Education to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation." The current HBCUs in Virginia are Hampton University, Norfolk State University (NSU), Virginia State University (VSU), Virginia Union University, and Virginia University of Lynchburg. These were founded for black men with the intention of providing blacks with an equal education to whites during the post-Civil War era of segregation. The most notable of these with a direct connection to VMI are VSU and Norfolk State University (NSU). Virginia State University was founded on March 6, 1882, when the Virginia legislature passed a bill to charter the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. Delegate Alfred W. Harris, a Black attorney who represented Dinwiddie County in the General Assembly, sponsored the bill. VSU added the two-year branch in Norfolk to the college in 1944; the Norfolk division became a four-year branch in 1956 and gained independence as Norfolk State College (NSC) in 1969. Meanwhile, the parent school was renamed Virginia State College in 1946. Finally, the legislature passed a law in 1979 to provide the present name, Virginia State University. Harris' legislative efforts to establish VSU and, eventually, NSU would not have been possible without the direct actions of VMI alumnus William Mahone. William Mahone enrolled at VMI on July 20, 1844, at the age of 17, and is one of 12 graduates of the VMI Class of 1847. Before the Civil War, Mahone was a teacher at the Rappahannock Academy, Chief Engineer, and subsequently President, Chief Engineer, and General Superintendent of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad. During the Civil War, Mahone served as a Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel of the 6th Virginia Infantry Regiment before being promoted to Brigadier General when, during the Peninsular Campaign, he led his brigade at Seven Pines and Malvern Hill. He also fought at 2nd Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. Promoted to Major General on July 30, 1864, for his heroic actions at the Battle of the Crater, Mahone returned to engineering and continued to be instrumental in developing a railway system in Virginia after the war. Mahone was a principal architect and founder of the Readjuster Party, whose support of the public schools attracted black voters. In so doing, Mr. Mahone and his party significantly advanced the cause of black voter rights and black participation in elections. When the Readjusters gained control of the state legislature in 1879, they fulfilled their promise to African Americans by establishing a college to train teachers for the black school system. According to VSU's official archives, "Without the backing of Mahone's party, Virginia State University might not have been established, " and Norfolk State may not now exist. Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a white man and the son of missionaries, founded Hampton University. Armstrong volunteered to serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War, where he achieved the rank of Lt. Col. He established the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute – now known as Hampton University – in Hampton, Virginia, in 1868 as a place where black students could receive post-secondary education to become teachers, similar to the focus of the schools founded by William Mahone and those he and his party supported. Virginia Union University (VUU) was founded in 1865 to give the newly emancipated freedmen an opportunity for education of the mind in an ethical, religious environment. The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS), a white-dominated organization, founded the school in 1865, shortly after Union troops took control of Richmond, Virginia, at the end of the American Civil War. The white men of the American Baptist Home Mission Society (now National Ministries) laid a solid foundation for the educational advancement of the African-American in Virginia. Virginia's Governor L. Douglas Wilder, the first African-American governor in the United States, is a VUU graduate. Virginia University of Lynchburg was originally founded as Virginia Seminary and College, which was organized in May 1886 during the 19th annual session of the Virginia Baptist State Convention at the First Baptist Church in Lexington, Va. The Rev. P.F. Morris, pastor of Court Street Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., offered the resolution that authorized the establishment of the institution. Building on the work accomplished by the other HBCU founders and just 21 years out of slavery, African American Baptist leaders founded Lynchburg's oldest institution of higher education. There are historical linkages between the The First Baptist Church in Lexington and VMI, specifically the origins of VMI's Promaji Club and its now changed original charter as covered in the Peer Report. The majority of references to these events and persons do not appear prominently on Virginia HBCU campuses or in their histories. However, they are essential historical context for the current debate. Links to the source materials and other research are available in the online version of this article on The Cadet website at www.cadetnewspaper.com. Please help The Cadet remain the independent voice of the Corps and aluni/ae by supporting us at http://www.thecadetfoundation.org