Virginia Randolph (1874-1958) was a pioneering educator, community health advocate, organizational leader, and humanitarian. Her career in education spanned nearly sixty years. Her work is widely associated with vocational education. For those of you tuning in for the first time, welcome! Here’s the deal: Every weekday, we highlight the stories of iconic women in history you may not know about, but definitely should. We’re talking about women from around the world and throughout history. Each month is themed. This month we’re going back to school, highlighting educators and intellectuals.
This month, we're going back to school with stories of the most influential women educators in history.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
All month, we’re going back to school. Talking about women who changed the world of education.
Today’s educator was raised during the Reconstruction era. She was devoted to her students and her community and was a pioneering vocational teacher.
Let’s meet Virginia Randolph.
There’s some uncertainty as to Virginia Randolph’s exact birthdate. Some say she was born on June 8, 1874. Others say May 1870 is closer. She was born in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Sarah Elizabeth was a domestic worker, and her father, Edward Nelson was a bricklayer. They were both formerly enslaved.
Virginia was one of four children. Her father died soon after her youngest sister was born. Her mother was left to raise the family, and taught them how to knit, crochet, and keep clean.
When Virginia was six, she started school at Baker School in Richmond. It was one of the first public schools in the city, and the first built for Black students. Virginia struggled with the alphabet, but she quickly learned to read thereafter. She would go on to become an education authority by the time she was 16.
Virginia first started teaching in Goochland County right after she graduated in 1890. After a few years, she returned to Henrico County. There, she taught at the Mountain Road School. It was a one-room schoolhouse, and she would teach there for the next 15 years.
Of that school, she said: “The first day I enrolled 14 pupils. The school was old and the grounds were nothing but a red clay hill.”
And so Virginia went to work trying to improve those circumstances. She was clever and met each challenge head-on. First up, leveling the schoolyard with gravel.
A woman who lived across the street happened to have a gravel pit, and offered it up for free if Virginia would pay for the labor. Virginia didn’t have the money herself, so she organized a way to raise the funds with a “Willing Workers Club,” and school improvement leagues. She also recruited students around the county to help. From there she seeded the lawn, and even planted twelve sycamore trees as part of the first arbor day in Virginia. The trees became the first national historic trees of Virginia and they remain today -- except for the tree named after Judas, which had to be cut down to make room for a building addition.
This was Virginia’s innovative contribution: learning by doing. She taught students to garden, cook, weave. She believed in the importance of learning these manual arts in addition to academics. And after visiting her students at home, she also implemented a hygiene education program.
People started to take notice of Virginia’s success.
In 1907, a Quaker philanthropist named Anna Jeanes pledged 1 million dollars toward bettering rural schools in the south for Black Americans. In 1908, Virginia became the first Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher in the south. This meant that she would go from school to school throughout the county, assisting teachers and setting up similar clubs and curriculum.
After her first year of working, a summary report of her methods became known as The Henrico [hen-RYE-co] Plan and was distributed throughout the south.
Virginia’s educational career lasted almost 60 years. She retired in 1949, after serving as the supervisor of Black schools in Henrico County. In that time, her one-room school had grown from 14 students to 400.
Virginia never married or had biological children of her own. She officially adopted one child, Carrie B. Sample. Over the course of her lifetime, she took in more than 50 foster children. Some were referred to her by the justice system, some she took in when their parents couldn’t care for them. And others were students traveling to attend her school.
On March 16, 1958, Virginia Randolph died of cardiovascular disease. She was buried at the Virginia Randolph Education Center.
All month, we’re talking about women who changed the world of education.
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Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!