Virginia State University

The Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute was chartered on 6 Mar. 1882. The Readjuster Party was instrumental in supporting a state institution of higher education in Virginia for African Americans with some unusual features to the institute's charter. It called for six of the seven members of the board of visitors be black, an all-black faculty, as well as the authority to grant college degrees. This is in contrast to many African American agricultural and industrial schools established at that time. Classes began in October 1883 with 62 students, six faculty members, and one building. In 1920 land grant status was acquired and the current name was conferred in 1979.