William Lyne Wilson was an American politician and lawyer from West Virginia. A Bourbon Democrat, he was elected to the United States Congress in 1882 and served six terms of office, ending in 1895.
Bluefield State University is a public historically black university (HBCU) in Bluefield, West Virginia. Despite being an HBCU, Bluefield's undergraduate student body is now over 80% white. The university is part of West Virginia's public university education system.
Storer College was a historically black college in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, that operated from 1867 to 1955. A national icon for black Americans, in the town where the 'end of American slavery began', as Frederick Douglass famously put it, it was a unique institution whose focus changed several times. There is no one category of college into which it fits neatly. Sometimes white students studied alongside black students, which at the time was prohibited by law at state-supported schools in West Virginia and the other Southern states, and sometimes in the North.
Virginia University of Lynchburg (VUL) is a private historically black Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. The university is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools and offers instruction and degrees, primarily in religious studies, including a Doctorate of Ministry program. The campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jared Maurice Arter was a former slave, who was a writer, Christian missionary, and academic.
Stuart Felix Reed was an American lawyer and Republican politician who became the Secretary of State of West Virginia (1909–1917) and represented West Virginia's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives (1917–1925).
Alexander Blount Mahood was a Bluefield, West Virginia-based architect.
Emma Ann Reynolds (1862-1917) was an African-American teacher, who had a desire to address the health needs of her community. Refused entrance to nurses training schools because of racism, she influenced the creation of Provident Hospital in Chicago and was one of its first four nursing graduates. Continuing her education, Reynolds became a medical doctor serving at posts in Texas, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. before permanently settling in Ohio and completing her practice there.
Hannah Johnston Bailey was an American Quaker teacher, activist, and advocate for peace, temperance, and women's suffrage.
Lewis Penick Clinton was a Prince of the Bassa people in West Africa (Liberia) and later an African American missionary and lecturer.
Nathan Cook Brackett (1836–1910) was an abolitionist, Free Will Baptist pastor, first president of Storer College, and chairman and co-founder of Bluefield State College.
Hamilton Hatter (1856–1942) was an African-American professor at Storer College, first president of Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia from 1895 to 1906.
John Storer was a merchant and philanthropist from Sanford, Maine, who was the namesake of Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Mary Mitchell Birchall, born Mary Wheelwright Mitchell (1840-1898), was the first woman in New England to earn a bachelor's degree when she graduated from Bates College in 1869. She later served as a professor at Vassar College and founded a girls' school in Boston.
George Washington Flint was an American educator and academic administrator who served as the second president of Storrs Agricultural College, now the University of Connecticut, from 1898 to 1901.
Dr. Henry Lake Dickason was the president of Bluefield State College in West Virginia from 1936 to 1952 and Morristown College in Tennessee from 1953 to 1957.
Robert Page Sims (1872–1944) was an early African American academic, civil rights leader, scientist, and college president who held positions at Virginia University of Lynchburg and Bluefield State College.
John Henry Hill was an American lawyer, educator, school administrator, and military officer. He was the second principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute from 1894 until 1898. West Virginia State considers him its second president.
James Munroe Canty was an American educator, school administrator, and businessperson. Canty was an acting principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute in 1898 and is considered by West Virginia State as an acting president. Canty also served as the superintendent of Mechanical Industries for West Virginia Colored Institute from 1893 through 1914.
Lethia Cousins Fleming was an African-American suffragist, teacher, social worker, civil rights activist, and she was active in Republican politics at both local and national levels.
