West Virginia State University West Virginia State University West Virginia State University (WVSU) is an historically black public university founded in 1891 in Institute, West Virginia. In the Charleston-metro area, the school is usually referred to simply as "State" or "West Virginia State". It is one of the original group of African American land-grant colleges established by the second Morrill Act of 1890. African-American students currently are a minority of attending students. The University is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The university's Gus R. Douglass Land-Grant Institute is divided into three programmatic divisions: WVSU Extension Service, WVSU Agricultural and Environmental Research
Capital punishment in West Virginia Capital punishment in West Virginia Capital punishment is abolished in the U.S. State of West Virginia since 1965. Prior to secession from the Confederacy and admission to the Union on June 20, 1863, West Virginia was a part of Virginia. 43 people were executed under Virginia's authority, 112 after statehood. The first two people executed in the State of West Virginia were Daniel Grogan and Thomas Boice, both convicted of murder. After secession, no women have been executed in West Virginia. Hanging was an official method until 1949. In 1949, West Virginia was the last state to adopt the electric