Virginia House Bill 1980
VA HB1980 established the Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program, which addresses the long legacy of slavery in the commonwealth and acknowledges that the foundational success of several public institutions of higher education was based on the labor of enslaved individuals.
Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship Program
Under HB1980, VCU, along with four other institutions, will provide a scholarship and/or a community-based economic benefits program.
Each institution participating in the program is required to:
- Advertise the program in the same manner as it advertises other scholarship programs
- Award each scholarship in the memory of an enslaved individual who has a connection to the history of the institution
- Provide for the renewal of scholarships to recipients who maintain continuous enrollment and satisfactory academic progress
- Continue to award the scholarships for a period equal in length to the period during which the institution used enslaved individuals to support the institution or until scholarships have been awarded to a number of recipients equal to 100 percent of the population of enslaved individuals in the Commonwealth, whichever occurs first.
Read VCU's report on Slavery and the Medical College of Virginia.