H B C U
T I M E S
to make sure, you come back and let me know.” She was actually the department chair. After this, I knew I was at home.
Bellamy is actively fundraising to support the institute so that cost of participation is not a deterrent to people applying. His goal is to make the program far more affordable than those offered by other universities and free if funding allows. Virginia is rich with prominent universities including five Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Dr. Bellamy feels strongly that VSU is well suited to do this training because of the university’s unique political history in Petersburg. “I consider Petersburg to be ground zero for Black political leadership. It was Petersburg and John Mercer Langston, VSU’s first college president who was the first Black congressional member from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He served in the U. S. House of Representatives in 1881. If not for Petersburg and the folks who were fighting on the ground, we wouldn’t have Virginia State University, and we wouldn’t have public education for Black folks with the resources available to them now. I also see Petersburg as a place in which it is uniquely positioned as home to a state-ran HBCU to be able to speak boldly in terms of educating Black folk from a political standpoint,” stated Dr. Bellamy. Dr. Bellamy is a nationally known activist, educator, former Deputy Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, author and recognized from his frequent media appearances. He has been a member of the faculty at Virginia State for four years and chair of the political science department for the last three years. His first HBCU experience was as a business management major at South Carolina State University, with the goal of opening a barber shop after graduation. He did not foresee a career in politics or education. Those plans changed when he was recruited by a government agency for a job in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Bellamy calls his move to Charlottesville “divine intervention” because it was there where he began performing community work and connecting with activists in the area. Dr. Bellamy left the job that originally took him to Charlottesville and became a high school computer technology teacher. He enrolled at Virginia State to pursue a master’s in education administration because he was interested in becoming a high school principal. Although the University of Virginia was only minutes away, he wanted all his degrees to come from HBCUs and intentionally chose to drive 80 miles each way to Petersburg to pursue it at VSU. An encounter on Dr. Bellamy’s first day on campus further confirmed to him that he had chosen the right school, “I was lost. I’ve never been to the campus. I’ve never been to Petersburg. And there was a young lady, Dr. Brooks-Walters. She said, “Baby, you look lost,” and I said, “Yes ma’am, I am.” She literally walked me to every classroom in the building until we found my class. And then she said, “If you ever need anything
While pursuing a graduate degree, Dr. Bellamy was still teaching high school and campaigning for a seat on the Charlottesville City Council. Dr. Bellamy lost the election, and said he was supported and encouraged by the administration at Virginia State to run for office again, become a principal, as well as continue furthering his education at VSU in the doctoral program. He went on to run for office again in 2015, becoming the youngest person ever elected to the Charlottesville City Council. He won a second history-making election becoming Vice-Mayor of Charlottesville, again as the youngest person ever elected to the position. In addition, he earned his Doctor of Education at VSU. In the spring of 2018, the university offered him an opportunity to teach classes as an adjunct. The fall semester of that same year he became a full-time member of the political science faculty. Dr. Bellamy landed on the national media’s radar through his work as one of the leaders of the efforts to remove statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from city parks in Charlottesville. In
2019, he wrote “Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue”, recounting his experience as the only Black person on the Charlottesville City Council while fighting against white supremacy. Dr. Bellamy defended his dissertation August 12, 2017, the same day as the Unite the Right Rally when white extremists and counter protesters violently clashed in Charlottesville.
True to form, Dr. Bellamy is managing several projects in addition to his duties
at Virginia State. He is the National Public Policy Chairman of the 100 Black Men of America, and the major release of his second book takes place this fall. It is entitled “When White Supremacy Knocks, Fight Back! How White People can use their Privilege and How Black People can use their Power.” He was inspired to write the new book in response to the frequent questions he receives, “I’m literally asked maybe two or three times a week from white folks, what can I do? It’s a guidebook. Within each chapter it talks about a personal story and then essentially a guide for white people and a guide for Black people and things in which we can do together.” As Dr. Bellamy launches two major projects this fall, he credits his HBCU experience as being the catalyst for the accolades he has earned, “I tell people all the time there would be no statue removals without South Carolina State and Virginia State giving me the confidence to be able to withstand the white supremacy, to know that I’m good enough and that people have my back. Without those two institutions, I probably wouldn’t be doing this work.”
2 0 2 1 F A L L I S S U E | 23
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker