West Virginia State University (WVSU) will host a Founders Day Convocation on Tuesday, March 10, beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the Fannin S. Belcher Theater of the Davis Fine Arts Building on the school’s Institute campus.
WVSU Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. R. Charles Byers will discuss the University’s history and impact before leading those in attendance on a walk across campus to perform a ceremonial wreath laying at the cemetery along Barron Drive where Mary Barnes is buried.
Barnes was a former slave, who along with her children, sold the land in Institute to the state of West Virginia where the University is now located. Authorized by the U.S. Congress as a land-grant institution under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, the West Virginia Legislature established WVSU, on March 17, 1891, to provide education to African-American citizens.
