Presented by Chesterfield Historical Society & Chesterfield Parks & Rec

Learn how Virginia State University, one of the 15 state-supported four-year colleges and universities in the Commonwealth, was founded and grew in its first 20 years. VSU was chartered as the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute in 1882, mandated to enroll an African-American student body and hire an all-Black faculty. It granted college-level degrees, the first of the 17 state schools for African-Americans in the United States to be allowed to do so. Amazingly, the State also allowed a predominately Black Board of Visitors to oversee its expenditures and policies. The speaker will be Lucious Edwards, who retired from VSU after 35 years as University Archivist and historian. He is currently a consultant in African-American life and history of Virginia.

Reservations are not necessary for this free lecture, but seating may be limited.