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7. West Virginia State College: National Champions
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143 West Virginia State College: National Champions WEST VIRGINIA WAS a segregated state from the very beginning of its existence, in 1863. West Virginia separated from Virginia and successfully sought statehood because of long-held resentments against the eastern half of the state, popular dissatisfaction over Virginia's secession from the union, and because of their opposition to slavery, although the new state was divided over the institution. The Northern Panhandle was strongly anti-slavery in sentiment, but slavery had strong support in the Eastern Panhandle and in Kanawha and Greenbrier Counties. Even after the Civil War, the central and southern parts of the new state remained closely aligned to the South in attitudes about race. Yet West Virginia was quick to provide for the education of its African American citizens; the West Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1872 approved a clause to provide for a segregated school system. A segregated public school system was quickly put in place, and a separate system of higher education was developed.1 West Virginia had three institutions of higher education for African American students before 1900. The first school was Storer College, established in 1867 by the Freewill Baptist Church to educate the freed slaves of the Shenandoah Valley. Although called a college, Storer was initially a sub-collegiate institution that taught only the basic subjects of religion, C H A P T E R 7 Chapter 7 144 reading, and mathematics. Storer eventually added industrial training, domestic arts, and even some college classes. After establishing a college program in the 1920s, Storer maintained a separate high school department , as was the custom of most West Virginia colleges. Heavily in debt and believing it would not be able to compete for students after integration , Storer closed in 1955.2 A second black college was Bluefield State founded by the West Virginia Legislature as the Bluefield Colored Institute, in 1895. Bluefield is located in the extreme southern part of West Virginia, where the state’s heaviest concentration of African Americans lived after migrating to the state in the 1880s to work in the booming coalfields. The Bluefield Colored Institute had forty students when it opened in 1897; the school had grown to 338 students by 1925. In 1931, its name was changed to Bluefield State Teachers College.3 Intense rivalries developed among the athletic programs at the three black colleges. Bluefield State developed a strong football program during the 1920s, and in the middle of the decade, the Bluefield Blues were led on the field by tackle Ted Gallion and quarterback Fred Buford, both AllAmericans . Under Coach Harry “Big Jeff” Jefferson, the Blues were unbeaten in the 1927 and 1928 seasons, compiling a 16-0-2 record. The Pittsburgh Courier named Bluefield the National Negro Champions in 1927 and again in 1928.4 The third and largest black college in West Virginia was the West Virginia Colored Institute established by the West Virginia legislature in 1891. The school was one of seventeen black land-grant colleges established under the Second Morrill Act of 1890. The original Morrill Act had used money from the sale of public lands to build state land-grant universities; similarly, the Second Morrill Act used the sale of public lands to build black colleges. The West Virginia Colored Institute opened its doors to students in 1892. Originally established as a trade school, it quickly developed an academy program for high school students and a normal program to train teachers. [3.238.233.189] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 13:31 GMT) West Virginia State College: National Champions 145 Under the leadership of Byrd Prillerman, who served as president from 1909 to 1919, the academic programs were strengthened, and the West Virginia Legislature changed the school’s name to West Virginia Collegiate Institute in 1915. The African American population of the state grew rapidly, from 64,000 in 1900 to more than 115,000 in 1930, encouraging the growth of the state’s black colleges, including West Virginia Collegiate Institute. Under the leadership of Morehouse College graduate John W. Davis, who served as president from 1919 to 1953, the school continued to expand. In 1927, Ferrell Hall was built to house most of the college, including offices, an auditorium, classrooms, a library, and laboratories. That same year, the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges accredited the Institute, making it the first black land-grant college to receive regional accreditation. In 1929, the school was renamed West Virginia State College (often...