Map; Appomattox Indian Town; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
A photograph of a plat map showing the location of one of four Appomattox Indian Towns. On this site will be a farm called "Ettrick Banks" later Virginia State University. This was the site of one of the Indian Towns attacked by Nat...
Campus Buildings; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
Built for the owner of the Fleet Farm in 1834. The building became known as the Griffin House, after John Griffin bought the tract in 1879. It was purchased for Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute in 1882. It was converted into the main...
Confederate General; Battle of the Crater; Readjuster Party; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
William Mahone was a railroad engineer, a Confederate General, and a hero in the Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864. After the Civil War he was one of the people who helped establish the Readjuster Party. The Party's support of the public...
Mills; Pre-Civil War; Industrial History; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
This is a view of Fleets Hill in 1883, as seen from Petersburg across the Appomattox River. This picture shows some of the many mills operating from water power along the Appomattox in Ettrick and Petersburg from the mid-1840s through the 1890s.
Slave; African American; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
Henry Johnson was born a slave around 1835 on the Fleet Plantation. He later became the butler at the Fleet Plantation house. After the Civil War Mr. Johnson became a wagoner.
Henry Johnson; Malinda Johnson; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
The home was built by Henry Johnson in 1865 after the end of the Civil War on Rome Street in Petersburg, VA. Henry Johnson had been born a slave on the old Fleet Plantation, now the site of Virginia State University. The house is still standing.
Slave; African American; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
Malinda Johnson was from Petersburg, VA. She was a slave, property of a Major P. Branch. She married Henry Johnson and in 1854 gave birth to William Henry Johnson, their only child.
Map; View of Fleet Farms; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
Drawn after the Civil War, the plat map shows Ettrick in 1867. The area called B.L. Robinson became the original site of the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute.
African American; Freed slave; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
Rosetta McCray was born a slave in Petersburg, Virginia. Her father John McCray was able to acquire her freedom in the 1840s. She married John Henry Hill and bore two children before leaving Petersburg for Canada. While there, their two sons...
Freedom fighter; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
John Henry Hill was born a slave in King and Queen County, Virginia, in March 1828. He escaped from the institution of slavery in 1853 and fled to Canada. He was very active in the Underground Railroad movement in Canada. After the Civil War...
Politician; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
Alfred W. Harris was a member of the House of Delegates from 1881-1888. He presented the Bill to establish Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute now Virginia State University.
Bill of Charter; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
This Bill established the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. CHAP. 266-An act to incorporate the Normal and Collegiate Institute, and provide for the support of the same.
Politician, Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
William Nash Stevens was a member of the group of African American Legislators who presented a number of bills in February of 1882. The honorable William Nash Stevens presented the bill to move the "COLORED" insane asylum to Dinwiddie.
Black Militia; Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
When the cornerstone for the main building was laid in July of 1883, there was a program which included a parade to the campus by different organizations. Included in this parade were several of the black militia units. The unit shown here was...
