[1][2] Mary "reportedly told [Robert] that he could treat her however he wanted as long as their kids remained free".
[4][3] Prior to the American Civil War, she and her children went to live in Philadelphia, where Mary owned a house.
[5] In 1866 Robert died and Mary inherited Lumpkin's Jail, as well as properties in Richmond; Huntsville, Alabama; and Philadelphia; she was named the executor of his will.
[1][5] She leased the jail property in 1867 to Nathaniel Colver, who used it to establish the Richmond Theological School for Freedmen (now Virginia Union University).
[8] Hakim Lucas, president of Virginia Union University, stated that "Virginia Union University is the legacy of Mary Lumpkin, but it is also the legacy of every African American woman that's alive today and has lived and struggled before for her children...Mary Lumpkin represents the highest form of the ideal of what social justice means for us in our world today".