Frequently Asked Questions about the Reparations Initiative

Most service jobs on campus were performed by Black people, both free and enslaved, including personal servants and farm laborers. Southern students often brought enslaved servants to the Seminary with them, and the Education Society at the Seminary provided funds for slave labor for the institution and the students it supported financially. After the Civil War and well into the 20th century, VTS continued to exploit the labor of Black men and women. While free, these workers were not fairly compensated because of their limited employment options under the system of de jure segregation. 

In the post antebellum period (from 1878 to 1949), African American seminarians enrolled in the Bishop Payne Divinity School in Petersburg, Virginia. In 1951, VTS was desegregated. The first African American student was John T. Walker, who graduated from the Seminary in 1954. Walker would go on to become the first African American bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, as well as dean of Washington National Cathedral. 

Acting on the assumption that labor should be fairly compensated, Virginia Theological Seminary has decided to provide cash payments to descendants of enslaved people who worked on campus as a form of reparations. People who were not compensated, or were under-compensated, were deprived of the opportunity to choose how to use the fruit of their labor. They could neither spend during their lifetimes nor make provisions for their descendants. That means several successive generations of formerly enslaved persons, and those who labored under Jim Crow laws lost the opportunity to provide something for their descendants.

VTS does not believe that there is an amount of money to compensate for the suffering that took place, but the Seminary does affirm the principle that a form of cash reparations is appropriate for the descendants of people exploited on campus. 

According to research, it is likely that at least 290 enslaved and free people labored at Virginia Theological Seminary during the antebellum period – from 1823 to 1865. During the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, the Seminary suspects that there were hundreds more.

September 5, 2019.

The five goals of this initiative are:

1. Build relationships with descendants when and if they are willing and interested, including the stories of their ancestors in the Seminary’s history, and providing them or their designees with disbursements from the Reparations fund.
2. Build relationships with the two local African American congregations with close historical ties to VTS: Meade Memorial Episcopal Church and Oakland Baptist Church.
3. Support African American alums working in historically Black congregations.
4. Raise up African Americans to be trained for leadership (lay or ordained) in congregations.
5. Support projects related to racial and social justice.

The initiative was built to be flexible so that, in the future, more emphasis can be placed on systemic investment rather than on individual payments, if the families should determine they wish to go in that direction. VTS views the individual payments as the beginning of a reparative process that is likely to go on for generations, involving an ongoing dialogue between the families, the Seminary, and all those who support the concept of reparations.   

The funds from the Reparations initiative go to “shareholders,” living direct descendants that are members of the generation closest to the person who labored at VTS between 1823 and 1951.

Shareholders are found via research from a dedicated team, reviewing both the antebellum era and Jim Crow segregation, as well as individuals who have learned about the program and contacted program leaders.

Yes. Given that many Black families with historical ties to Virginia Theological Seminary still live near the VTS campus, the Seminary would have been remiss not to attempt working with them directly.

In 2018, Virginia Theological Seminary leadership set aside $1.7 million for an outreach fund; it was decided in 2019 that it would be completely devoted to forming a reparations “initiative.” The money is a portion of the Seminary’s overall endowment. Payments will be drawn from this fund annually at the same rate that VTS uses annually to draw money from the endowment for the institutional operating budget.

The Seminary is in agreement. The amount was not based upon an estimation of the value of the labor that was exploited. The initial investment is considered a seed that the institution can and will grow over time.

February 2021.

The payments are delivered annually.

While information can be shared publicly by shareholders, VTS does not disclose payment amounts.

No. The exact amount is determined annually, based upon the yield of the Reparations endowment and the number of shareholders who have been confirmed by the research team. 

This initiative will continue in perpetuity. 

Yes. After payments were publicly reported (in Spring 2021), gifts to the Reparations initiative have increased. The fund accepted large and small gifts, from both long-time members of the Seminary community and new friends inspired by the initiative. 

Please visit this page. Thank you for your gift.

Currently the reparations initiative remains at $1.7 million. Like any endowed fund it grows and fluctuates at the rate of market inflation.  

The modus operandi of slavery and Jim Crow was to seek total control of Black lives and communities. Thus, VTS felt that the attempt to make amends to descendants should involve the relinquishment of control on the part of the institution, in some way. It is one thing, for example, to make a descendant apply for a housing grant from a reparations endowment or to apply for need-based assistance. It is another thing to provide them with a share of the endowment fund that they may use however they wish. Very few, if any, controls have ever been placed on the wealth amassed by Americans of European descent in an economic system that has consistently advantaged whiteness.

VTS remains committed to the five goals of the Reparations initiative:

1. Build relationships with descendants when and if they are willing and interested, including the stories of their ancestors in the Seminary’s history, and providing them or their designees with disbursements from the Reparations fund.
2. Build relationships with the two local African American congregations with close historical ties to VTS: Meade Memorial Episcopal Church and Oakland Baptist Church.
3. Support African American alums working in historically Black congregations.
4. Raise up African Americans to be trained for leadership (lay and ordained) in congregations.
5. Support projects related to racial and social justice.

If you are interested in one of these areas, please contact reparations@vts.edu. Someone will contact you in order to discuss your idea and how to apply for funding. If you subsequently apply, the committee that determines reparations policy will review your proposal and determine whether or not to fund it.