Historic marker to recognize divinity school

A school in Petersburg that prepared black men for the ministry will be recognized with a Virginia historical marker. The marker, honoring Bishop Payne Divinity School, is scheduled to be dedicated on March 29. Established in 1878 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Normal and Industrial School, Rev. John Payne, the first bishop of Liberia, started the school. Its graduates included James Solomon Russell, who founded St. Paul’s College in Lawrenceville. In 1949, the Bishop Payne Divinity School merged with the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. The sign was approved this month by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and will be dedicated at the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Petersburg.