Tag: West Virginia State College

July 30, 2006: Aviator Rose Agnes Rolls Cousins Dies at 86

Aviator Rose Agnes Rolls Cousins died on July 30, 2006, at age 86. The Fairmont native had entered West Virginia State College in 1932, when she was 16. The school’s new pilot training program, introduced in 1939, rekindled in her a childhood desire to fly planes. She became the first black woman trained as a solo pilot through the college’s Civilian Pilot Training Program. West Virginia State was the first of six historically black colleges in the nation authorized to establish one of these federally funded programs.

In the training, Cousins learned to put her plane into a spin, fly upside down, and land with the engine off. She also completed a cross-country flight alone, guided only by sight and a compass. In 1941, she went to Tuskegee Institute, with the first group of 10 male students from West Virginia State College, and tried out for the Air Force training program for black combat pilots. However, she was denied because of her gender. Disappointed by the rejection, she moved back to her hometown and spent much of her remaining life managing records at Fairmont Clinic.   

July 20, 1910: College Founder Nathan Brackett Dies at 73

 

  College founder Nathan Brackett died on July 20, 1910, at age 73. The native of Maine was a minister in the Free Will Baptist Church. In 1864, he joined the U.S. Christian Commission, which was providing assistance to Union and Confederate soldiers and to freed slaves in the Shenandoah Valley.

After the Civil War, Brackett dedicated himself to the Free Will Baptist mission of educating former slaves. He supervised 25 white female teachers from the North, scattered in Free Will Baptist schools from Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg to Lynchburg, Virginia. Brackett soon realized it’d be better for the African-American community if blacks taught other blacks rather than continuing to bring in white missionaries from New England. In October 1867, the Free Will Baptist Church opened Storer College at Harpers Ferry. Brackett was its first president and served 30 years, until his retirement in 1897.

Prior to the establishment of West Virginia State College in 1891, Storer was the only college open to African-Americans in the state. Brackett also played a role in founding another black teachers college: Bluefield State.

Storer College closed its doors in 1955. 

July 20, 1910: College Founder Nathan Brackett Dies at 73

 

  College founder Nathan Brackett died on July 20, 1910, at age 73. The native of Maine was a minister in the Free Will Baptist Church. In 1864, he joined the U.S. Christian Commission, which was providing assistance to Union and Confederate soldiers and to freed slaves in the Shenandoah Valley.

After the Civil War, Brackett dedicated himself to the Free Will Baptist mission of educating former slaves. He supervised 25 white female teachers from the North, scattered in Free Will Baptist schools from Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg to Lynchburg, Virginia. Brackett soon realized it’d be better for the African-American community if blacks taught other blacks rather than continuing to bring in white missionaries from New England. In October 1867, the Free Will Baptist Church opened Storer College at Harpers Ferry. Brackett was its first president and served 30 years, until his retirement in 1897.

Prior to the establishment of West Virginia State College in 1891, Storer was the only college open to African-Americans in the state. Brackett also played a role in founding another black teachers college: Bluefield State.

Storer College closed its doors in 1955. 

June 9, 1957: Pastor T.D. Jakes Born in South Charleston

On June 9, 1957, pastor T. D. Jakes was born in South Charleston. He developed an avid interest in the ministry as a young boy, preaching to imaginary congregations. After graduating from West Virginia State College, he started his first church. The Greater Emmanuel Temple of Faith opened in a Montgomery storefront in 1980 with a congregation of 10. Two years later, the Union Carbide plant where Jakes worked closed, and he pursued the ministry full time.

Word of his uplifting sermons spread, and his congregation, notable for its racial diversity, grew swiftly. He moved first to a refurbished theater in Smithers, then to South Charleston, then to Cross Lanes. By 1996, his congregation had surpassed 1,000 members. That year, Jakes relocated his ministry to Texas and founded the Potter’s House in Dallas.

The church’s services include ministries to homeless people, prisoners, prostitutes, and people with AIDS, as well as treatment for drug and alcohol abusers, and adult education. T. D. Jakes Ministries, the non-profit company that sells his videos and audiotapes, grossed $19 million just in 2000 alone. His ministry now has more than 30,000 members.

Actress & Playwright Ann Kathryn Flagg Died: October 27, 1970

Ann Kathryn Flagg died on October 27, 1970. The playwright, teacher, and actress was born in Charleston in 1924.

After growing up in the segregated part of town, she graduated from Garnet High School in 1941 and from West Virginia State College four years later. She then taught drama in a Virginia high school and toured nationally with the noted American Negro Repertory Players. Afterward, she returned to West Virginia to teach at Fairmont’s Dunbar High School.

In 1952, she was named director of the Children’s Theater at Karamu House in Cleveland. In this role, she adapted plays for children and received acclaim for starring in Sophocles’ Antigone and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata.

In 1961, she moved to Chicago to work on her master’s degree. During this time, she wrote Great Gettin’ Up Mornin’. The play came in first place in the National Collegiate Playwriting Contest and was broadcast nationally on CBS television. She went on to write more plays, including Blueboy to Holiday—Over, A Significant Statistic, and Unto the Least of These.

Her sudden death from an attack of emphysema at age 46 ended a promising career.

June 9, 1957: Pastor T. D. Jakes Born in South Charleston

On June 9, 1957, pastor T. D. Jakes was born in South Charleston. He developed an avid interest in the ministry as a young boy, preaching to imaginary congregations. 

After graduating from West Virginia State College, he started his first church. The Greater Emmanuel Temple of Faith opened in a Montgomery storefront in 1980 with a congregation of 10. Two years later, the Union Carbide plant where Jakes worked closed, and he pursued the ministry full time.

Word of his uplifting sermons spread, and his congregation, notable for its racial diversity, grew swiftly. He moved first to a refurbished theater in Smithers, then to South Charleston, then to Cross Lanes. By 1996, his congregation had surpassed 1,000 members. That year, Jakes relocated his ministry to Texas and founded the Potter’s House in Dallas.

The church’s services include ministries to homeless people, prisoners, prostitutes, and people with AIDS, as well as treatment for drug and alcohol abusers, and adult education. T. D. Jakes Ministries, the non-profit company that sells his videos and audiotapes, grossed $19 million just in 2000 alone. His ministry now has more than 30,000 members.

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