Virginia Estelle Randolph (1870-1958)
Historical highway marker W-221 · Henrico County
The daughter of parents born into slavery, Virginia Randolph taught here in the one-room Mountain Road School beginning in the mid-1890s. A gifted teacher, she became in 1908 the nation's first countywide Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher, a position sponsored by the Anna T. Jeanes Fund of Philadelphia for black southern education. Randolph developed the Henrico Plan, teaching both traditional subjects and vocational skills. She promoted public health initiatives and juvenile justice reform. In 1915 Henrico County renamed Mountain Road School in Randolph's honor. The campus, which has grown and changed in purpose over the years, still bears her name. Randolph is buried here.
Department of Historic Resources, 2020