Dr. Lindsay Michie recently gave a lecture at Virginia University of Lynchburg in which she tied the school’s history to a quest for independence in Africa.
Her lecture, highlighted in The News & Advance, explained how an early VUL president fought to keep liberal arts in the school’s curriculum. At the same time, John Chilembwe was a student at VUL. After he graduated, he returned to his home country of Nyasaland, now Malawi, where he set up a ministry and ran schools. He eventually led an uprising that attempted to secure independence from British colonial rule.
Dr. Michie is working on a book about Chilembwe and his experiences in the United States.