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James S. Russell and St. Paul Normal and Industrial Institute, Broadside, 1895

CONTENT WARNING

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation. 

Context

This broadside advertises an excursion by train from Lawrenceville to Norfolk as a fundraiser for St. Paul Normal and Industrial Institute. James Solomon Russell (1857–1935) founded St. Paul Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville to serve the African American community in the surrounding area. He had been born into slavery in Mecklenburg County. After the Civil War and emancipation, he attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute and became a teacher before he studied the ministry and was ordained an Episcopal priest. Russell organized St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Lawrenceville and began a primary school there in 1883.

At this time, Virginia schools were segregated. Moreover, comparatively few rural localities provided high schools for Black students. This meant that members of the Black community often had to establish their own schools for students, despite the fact that their taxes funded the state education system.

This was the case in Lawrenceville; there was no high school in the area open to Black students. In 1888 Russell opened St. Paul Normal and Industrial School to help provide that education. Its three-year curriculum included such subjects as U.S. history, literature, composition, geography, and physics. It also offered industrial training classes in such skills as blacksmithing, shoemaking, farming, dressmaking, and cooking, a course of study similar to what Hampton University offered. This was an education meant to provide vocational opportunities in addition to the academic curriculum. Booker T. Washington, president of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, visited St. Paul's and commended the school and Russell for his efforts.

Russell traveled around the country to raise money for St. Paul's, which added a teacher training department and a junior college before he retired in 1929. Students came from more than 20 states and from the Caribbean and Africa. It became St. Paul's College in 1957 and continued operating until 2013.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper with printed matter intended to be distributed in public. They could be posters announcing events or proclamations, advertisements, or a written argument (often describing political views).

Citation: Ho! Ho! Here We Go: The Grandest Excursion of the Season from LaCrosse to Norfolk and Return, Friday, Sept. 6th, 1895, Broadside Digital Collection, Library of Virginia.

Learn more about James Solomon Russell in his Dictionary of Virginia Biography entry online at Encyclopedia Virginia.

Standards

VS.8, USII.5, VUS.10

Suggested Questions

Preview Activity

Scan It: Scan the document to assess its meaning and look for key words.

Post Activities

Be The Journalist: Imagine you are interviewing James Solomon Russell. What four questions would you ask? Why? Consider the legacy of Russell’s life, from being born enslaved to being ordained a priest and founding a successful college at the beginning of the Jim Crow era.

Map It: How many of the destinations listed on the broadside can you find on a current map of Virginia?

Dig Deeper: Using the Brunswick Times and the Brunswick Times-Gazette online in Virginia Chronicle, search for information about James S. Russell and St. Paul Normal and Industrial Institute. Write a paragraph about Russell and the school and include three facts that you learned.