LAWRENCEVILLE, Va. -- James Solomon Russell lived an extraordinary life under unimaginable circumstances.
"He was born into slavery with all the disadvantages you can name. James Solomon Russell was one of the greatest African American pioneers in this country," James Grimstead, a chairperson, said.
Russell would do this all through education.
"He forced himself to be well-educated, even though he had a difficult growing-up period," Grimstead said.
Born enslaved in 1857 in Mecklenburg County, education would be Russell's driving force both in academics and religion.
In 1888, Russell founded what would become St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville.
"It meant an opportunity to have a different lifestyle. Establish a church and establish a school, it was like a beacon of hope or light for Blacks," Dora Wynn, a 1978 graduate of St. Paul's College, said.
Through the decades, the college would become known for teaching trades and training teachers.
"The school itself is one of the few historically Black colleges that produced teachers that were awesome and still are awesome," Na'Stelle Graves, a 1983 graduate of the college, said.
By the 2000s, the college was facing hard financial times. In 2013, it would close its doors. Despite this, the memories of James Russell Soloman and St. Paul's College remain alive and vivid thanks to volunteers and a museum.
"It allows us to have memories but it's not revitalizing the college because the college will never be the way it was. But it allows us to know the history, to share the history," Wynn said.
The museum in Lawrenceville has impressed the Smithsonian so much that they have visited it three times.
"We are a reflection of what the college was. We are a reflection of what James Soloman Russell started. We are part of his legacy," Graves said.
The museum hopes that the legacy of Russell will resonate for decades to come.
"There was a person who did it. So you, you can do it. There's no excuse for you not doing it," Grimstead said.
In 2020, the museum's board of directors pushed for legislation to honor Russell. That year, the General Assembly officially established March 28 as James Solomon Russell Day in Virginia.
