Wayland Seminary

Wayland Seminary was the Washington, D.C. branch of the National Theological Institute. The Institute was established beginning in 1865 by several Baptist groups designed primarily at providing education and training for African-American freedmen to enter into the ministry. Just before the end of the 19th century, it was merged into the Big Virginia branch to form the current Virginia Union University at Richmond.

1865: plans to educate the freedmen

By late 1865, the American Civil War was over (which ended slavery in the former Confederate states) and slavery in the United States had officially ended in the Northern and border states as well with the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, known as freedmen, millions of former African American slaves were without employable job skills, opportunities, and even literacy itself. (I.E. in Virginia, since the bloody Nat Turner Rebellion in 1831, it had been unlawful to teach a slave to read).

Enlightened individuals realized that these newly freed people were still in a battle against ignorance and neglect. Members of the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) proposed a "National Theological Institute" which would educate those wishing to enter into the Baptist ministry. Soon, the proposed mission was expanded to offer courses and programs at college, high school and even preparatory levels, to both men and women.

1867-1897: Washington D.C.

Separate branches were set up in Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. Classes began in both cities by 1867. In Washington, the school became known as Wayland Seminary, named in commemoration of Dr. Francis Wayland, former president of Brown University and a leader in the anti-slavery struggle. The first and only president was Dr. George Mellen Prentiss King, who administered Wayland for thirty years (1867-97).

Over the 30 years Dr. King led Wayland, the other branch of the originally planned National Theological Institute at Richmond had faced even greater challenges than Wayland; there, the first classes were actually held in a former "slave jail" building. However, the branch in Richmond had also grown into a substantial institution by 1897, and had become known as Richmond Theological Seminary.

1899: Merger to form Virginia Union University

During the 1890’s plans were pushed forward to merge several ABHMS Institutions into one University, and by 1899 it was agreed that Wayland Seminary and Richmond Theological Seminary would come together to form Virginia Union University (VUU) at Richmond. Land for a new campus was purchased. Over 100 years later, VUU's 84 acre campus is still located there, at 1500 North Lombardy Street in Richmond's North Side.

Famous students of Wayland Seminary

Students at Wayland between 1867 and 1897 included a number of individuals who became famous African American citizens of the United States. These include:
*Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.
*Dr. Booker T. Washington, prominent educator and political figure
*Reverend Harvey Johnson of Baltimore – pastor and early civil rights activist
*Kate Drumgoold, author of "A Slave Girl’s Story: Being an account of Kate Drumgoold" (1898)
*Alfred L. Cralle, inventor of the ice cream scoop.