The bill was sponsored by Delegate Alfred W. Harris, a Black attorney whose offices were in Petersburg, but who lived in and represented Dinwiddie County in the General Assembly.

In 1902, the legislature revised the charter act to curtail the collegiate program and to change the name to Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute.

In the first academic year, 1883–1884, the university had 126 students and seven faculty (all of them Black), one building, 33 acres (13 ha), a 200-book library, and a $20,000 budget.

By the centennial year of 1982, the university was fully integrated, with a student body of nearly 5,000, a full-time faculty of about 250, a library containing 200,000 books and 360,000 microform and non-print items, a 236-acre (96 ha) campus and 416-acre (168 ha) farm, more than 50 buildings, including 15 dormitories and 16 classroom buildings, and a biennial budget of $31,000,000, exclusive of capital outlay.

The university is situated in Chesterfield County at Ettrick, on a bluff across the Appomattox River from the city of Petersburg.

The first person to bear the title of President, John Mercer Langston, was one of the best-known Black men of his day.

From 1888 to 1968, four presidents – James H. Johnston, John M. Gandy, Luther H. Foster, Robert P. Daniel served an average of 20 years, helping the school to overcome adversity and move forward.

The next twenty years, 1968–1992, saw six more presidents—James F. Tucker, Wendell P. Russell, Walker H. Quarles, Jr., Thomas M. Law, Wilbert Greenfield, and Wesley Cornelious McClure.

In 1984 the marching band was renamed the "Trojan Explosion" under the direction of Harold J. Haughton, Sr. and the music department began to grow.

In addition to numerous accolades and achievements, the drum line performed at the White House for President Barack Obama during the signing of the HBCU Funding Bill.

The organization has a rapidly growing membership that is actively involved in the promotion of the squad and its individual members.

"[9] Several graduates of VSC were living in Baltimore, and came to join the choir at the end of the program as they sang the Evening Song.