Chesterfield is proud to honor African American history and Black culture. During Black History Month, Chesterfield County and Virginia State University host a month-long celebration with a variety of programs exploring African American heritage. Click here to see how you can participate in Black History Month events. Read on to learn more about African American history in Chesterfield.
Virginia State University
Chesterfield County is home to Virginia State University (VSU), Virginia’s first state-supported school for African American students. VSU was also the first state-supported historically black school in the United States to offer both a college program and a normal program. Virginia State University is proud to be a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), a designation established under the Higher Education Act of 1965. This federal recognition highlights the University’s long-standing commitment to providing educational opportunities for African Americans and its role in advancing access to quality education for all. Learn more about VSU by taking a tour.
Cornelius Mimms
In 1881, Cornelius Mimms became the first African American elected to the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors. Mimms was born into slavery and overcame countless obstacles to lead a life of public service. To honor his two terms of service, Chesterfield honored his legacy in 2002 by renaming West Krause Road to Mimms Drive in his honor. To quote Mimms himself, “We must follow the right paths to arrive at the right place.” Learn more about the life and legacy of Cornelius Mimms at the Chesterfield County Musuem.
Pleasant View School
Built in 1930, Pleasant View School was a one-room schoolhouse for African Americans in the Jim Crow era, one of 33 Black schools operated in Chesterfield during segregation. Closed in 1947, the schoolhouse stands today as a representation of early African American education with original exterior and interior fixtures. Today, tours of Pleasant View are offered by the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia’s African-American History Committee.
Historic Midlothian Elementary School
The present site of the Lifelong Learning Institute and originally the Midlothian Elementary School, this site was one of the first known public schools for blacks in Midlothian built circa 1877. The log structure was built on land belonging to the Midlothian African Baptist Church and the original schoolhouse was replaced in 1925-1926 by a small frame building made possible by a matching grant funded by Julius Rosenwald Fund. The school occupied a new brick building in 1948 and was used for students until 1994.
First Baptist Church of Midlothian
The First Baptist Church of Midlothian is the oldest African-American Church in Chesterfield County. In the 1700’s and 1800’s, coal was the center of everything in Chesterfield. Freed blacks worked side by side with enslaved men at the Midlothian mines, bringing coal up out of the ground from hundreds of feet below. It was on these grounds in 1846 that they started the first African American church in Chesterfield County, originally named the First African Baptist Church of Coalfield. Church members built a small one-room school on the church property, and a bustling community popped up around the church. It 1877, the original structure burned but the congregation built First Baptist Church of Midlothian that still stands today.