The More Than a Fraction Foundation (MTAFF) partnered three-day event 1872 Forward: A Celebration of Virginia Tech receives the Anthem Award – a bronze medal in the Education, Art & Culture: Community Engagement category. The 1872 Forward event held by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) was selected from 2,000 submissions from 44 countries by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science. The 1872 Forward: A Celebration of Virginia Tech was held March 22-24, 2022 by the Council on Virginia Tech History in partnership with the MTAFF. The MTAFF sponsored this three-day event with grants from Virginia Humanities and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
The 1872 Forward: A Celebration of Virginia Tech was in celebration of its 150-year history. The More Than a Fraction Foundation is affiliated with the descendants of Africans enslaved on the Smithfield and Solitude plantations, which is now the grounds of Virginia Tech and Virginia State University.
The three-day event centered on Native/Indigenous communities and the enslaved Africans who once lived on the grounds now known as Virginia Tech. It also centered around the descendants of the European Americans who once owned the land, as well as the experiences of the students, faculty, staff, and alumni who made Virginia Tech what it is today. Today, Virginia Tech, formerly Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is a research university located in Blacksburg. It was founded in 1872 as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It has an 86% graduation rate and 56% acceptance rate.
The Council on Virginia Tech History is continuing to provide programs to the Virginia Tech community and on March 28, 2024 it will host 1872 Forward: How Our History Can Shape Our Future in Brush Mountain A. Squires Student Center at 1:30pm. The moderated forum will discuss how universities, such as Virginia Tech, can utilize and integrate their history into managing their plans for the future.
Dr. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs, founder of the More Than a Fraction Foundation will moderate the forum. The Foundation plans to continue its work with Virginia Tech with the understanding that progress moving forward will seem slow, but the magnitude of the accomplishments is the “brilliance of life” happening.
During research into her ancestors Dr. Moseley-Hobbs discovered that her ancestors were enslaved on the grounds once owned by the Preston family, grounds now known as Virginia Tech (Smithfield and Solitude plantations). She went on to publish a creative non-fiction account of the data discovered in a book titled “More Than a Fraction: Based on a True Story” (Amazon Books, Barns & Noble and Audible). Soon after her discovered, in 2015, Dr. Moseley-Hobbs joined the Board of Directors of the Smithfield-Preston Foundation a foundation which oversee the grounds of Historical Smithfield. Soon after joining the Board, she began helping the Smithfield-Preston foundation and Virginia Tech highlight the lives of the enslaved Africans and the displaced Indigenous peoples of that area.
The More Than a Fraction Foundation’s goal in sponsoring the Virginia Tech event was to highlight the estimated 300-year-old Merry Tree which was the center point for the enslaved community to meet, worship, marry, and more for over three generations. The MTAFF’s mission is to highlight the often-overlooked history, culture, and experiences of Africans in America and African Americans before and after the Civil War. Its vision is to explore American history from an angle that centers on the narratives and contributions of Africans and African Americans, offering a comprehensive understanding that includes the modern-day repercussions of their historical experiences.
