"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : VIRGINIA ESTELLE RANDOLPH

While doing a recent research online concerning the ACT TEST, I found 2 surprising things! First, I found out that fewer and fewer high school students are taking the Act Test, and Secondly, more and more 4 year American Colleges & Universities are "NO LONGER" requiring students to take the Act Test as a requirement for admissions. Well, when you think about it, the decline in students taking the Act Test makes perfect sense. Why should a student take an exam to get into a University when the University "NO LONGER" requires them to? Also, here's another thing to think about. For years and years, the ACT Organization has been operating their business as a Non-profit, and has had a "MONOPOLY" on the ACT Test. Therefore, they have been able to accumulated millions & millions of dollars,so much in fact that the ACT Organization will "NO LONGER" be operating as a Non-profit organization. You see, recently the ACT Organization officially announced that the company will soon be merging with a large California investment company, and will officially change its status from "Non-profit to For-profit." Well, ain't that a hoot !!! Anyways, let's get to this week's Black Pioneer. Virginia Estelle Randolph was born on May 1860, in Henrico County, Virginia. She is noted as being the "First Official Colored Jeanes Supervising Industrial School Teacher in Virginia," who was hired through the Jeanes Foundation to provide industrial training to Colored children in the South. Virginia began her formal schooling at Baker School in Virginia, and then attended Richmond Colored Normal School, which was founded by the Freedmen's Bureau in 1867. It was at Richmond Colored Normal School that she received training to become a school teacher. In 1886, "at the tender age of 16," Virginia was able to officially become a school teacher! Around 1887, Virginia accepted a teaching position at a school in Goochland, County, a county in Virginia. A few years later, she taught in Hanover County, before securing a teaching position in Henrico County, in 1894. The school she taught at in Henrico County was a one-room schoolhouse, named the Mountain Road School. Virginia had to travel throughout the county recruiting students for her little school. She taught there up until 1906 when she was officially named the "First Official Colored Jeanes Supervising Industrial School Teacher in Virginia!" In 1949, after putting in over 60 years of dedicated service,"57 years in Henrico County alone," Virginia went ahead and retired! On March 16,1958, Virginia Estelle Randolph passed away on March 16, 1958 in Richmond , Virginia. In 1954, The Virginia Randolph Foundation was established to horon her and award scholarships to Henrico County high school students who will be attending a four-year college or university.