Long considered one of the country's top historically
black universities, Virginia Union University has garnered the love, support
and hard work of one of its most illustrious graduates and faculty members for
more than 50 years.
When Dr. Allix Bledsoe
James, a Marshall, Texas, native, arrived in Richmond in the early 1940s, he
was greeted by segregation and racism -- and Virginia Union's closeknit family
of students and faculty. Two degrees and eight positions later, Dr. James remains
one of the university's most steadfast ambassadors.
It is not only Dr.
James’ two degrees from Virginia Union – a bachelor of arts degree and master
of divinity degree -- that bond the gentleman and the institution. It is also
the significant capacities in which he served: instructor of biblical studies,
1947-1950; dean of students, 1950-1956; dean, School of Theology, 1956-1970;
vice president, 1960-1970; president, 1970-1979; professor of pastoral theology,
1979-1992; chancellor/dean, 1985-1990; and president-emeritus, 1979-1985, 1990-present.
While Dr. James
was shaping the lives of students, he was also making his mark as the pastor
of several churches and a well-respected public servant.
He was the first
African American to be elected president of the Association of Theological Schools
in the United States and Canada and the first to be elected president of the
Virginia State Board of Education.
The educator was
also the first African American to be elected to serve on a major corporate
board in Virginia, and the first to serve as president of the Virginia Region
of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (now the National Conference
for Community and Justice).
Dr. James' memoirs,
Three Score and Ten Plus, are filled with accounts of the people and
events that shaped his life and those whose lives he shaped. His service was
recognized in March 1994, when more than 800 people attended an appreciation
dinner in his honor.
During the dinner, the honoree left
his guests with this challenge, one that can be passed on to America's youth:
"A community cannot be any stronger than the citizens who live in it. Let
us continue to work together to make our community the ideal community by being
active participants."
