Exploring Our Past
These stories offer but a glimpse of the rich and colorful history of West Virginia State University. We invite you to read the epic love story that tells the tale of how the community of Institute, where WVSU is located, came to be named. We encourage you to explore the part that the University played in training the Tuskegee Airmen who fought so bravely for our freedoms in World War II. These are but a few of the chapters in the more than 110-year-old history of the University, and they surely won’t be the last.
Act Creating the West Virginia Colored Institute
AN ACT accepting the provisions of the act of congress approved August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, entitled “An act to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, established under the provisions of an act of congress approved July second, eight hundred and sixty-two,” and providing for the apportionment of said endowment according to the provisions of said act.[Passed March 4, 1891.]
Among the Airmen … A Rose
In 1941 the original 11 graduates from West Virginia State College’s pilot training program traveled to Tuskegee Alabama to try out for the U.S. Air Force training program for black combat pilots. The group consisted of 10 men and one woman – Rose Agnes Rolls. She, too, was a licensed pilot from West Virginia State’s program.
Institute: It Springs from Epic Love Story*Â
Did you ever wonder why the largest Negro town in West Virginia happens to be located on Kanawha River nine miles west of Charleston? The reason is one of the most remarkable love stories in the history of the state.