Theodore T. Coleman

During the 2022-2023 school year, Cumberland Middle School students submitted a successful application for a "Lucyville" Virginia Historic Roadside Marker. On June 15, 2023, Virginia Department of Historic Resources formally approved the following historic marker text and location. The Rev. Reuben T. Coleman, enslaved at birth, became an entrepreneur after the Civil War. About 1.5 miles north of here he established Lucyville, named for his daughter, which in the 1890s featured a bank, post office, newspaper, and mineral springs resort that drew visitors from afar. Coleman, who challenged segregation, was the pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church and a local Republican leader and officeholder. His brother-in-law Shed Dungee, formerly enslaved, represented the area in the House of Delegates (1879-1882) and aligned with the Readjusters, a biracial coalition that achieved major reforms and supported public education. Many Lucyville residents left during the Great Migration. Sponsor: Cumberland Middle School Locality: Cumberland County Proposed Location: Trents Mill Road (Route 622) at the intersection with Oak Hill Road

R.T. Coleman's son, James Coleman, inherited much of his father's property. James and his wife Ida Trent Coleman had seven children. This StoryMap, collaboratively written by the 3rd and 4th Bock, US History II classes of Cumberland Middle School, details the life of their fifth child, Theodore T. Coleman.

Theodore Coleman's family included numerous educators. In 1910, Theodore Coleman was 8 years old attending a private school taught by his uncle Grant Dungee (started teaching in his late teens at the Benson Springs School and taught at several other one room public schools in Cumberland County, VA). Nannie Dungee Finney, his aunt, and Robert L. Finney, another uncle worked at Cumberland County Public Schools. Nannie Finney taught at the Sunnyside School, the Trent's Mill School and the Sugar Fork School. Robert Finney, taught at the Bethlehem School, the Trent's Mill School and the Sugar Fork School. His cousins, Ernest A. Finney Sr., Mary Finney Flournoy, Nannie Finney McDaniel, Robert A. Finney, Claude Finney (born 1913), Edward N. Finney (born 1914) and Otelia Finney Daring (born 1917) were teachers or administrators at various educational levels.

The 1920 census shows Theodore Coleman living at the Hampton Institute. Hampton Institute was established in 1868. Hampton’s first college president was General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. Hampton’s major programs were teacher training, agriculture and industrial trades. Booker T. Washington was a leader in education as the first President of the Tuskegee Institute. Washington also worked with Julius Rosenwald to build African American School Houses throughout the south. It was called the Rosenwald Foundation. Several Rosenwald Schools were built in Cumberland County.

Theodore Coleman played football at Hampton Institute.  He played defense and offense. In 1922, Hampton won the CIAA Championship and were named the Black College Football National Champions by the S.B.N. Poll.

Coleman, the 1923 team captain, was named All-CIAA at Right Tackle.

Theodore Coleman taught at Virginia State College after he graduated from Hampton. Theodore Coleman briefly worked his trade, auto mechanics, in Philadelphia. In West Virginia, Theodore Coleman taught at the High School level in Bluefield and Elkhorn.

 In 1927, Theodore Coleman married Ida M. Redmond. Ida Coleman graduated from Syracuse University. Syracuse, a New York public educational facility was integrated by New York Governor and future President, Theodore Roosevelt. Ida Coleman taught at Bluefield State Teachers College (now Bluefield State University).

Theodore Colman began teaching at Armstrong High School (also named after General Samuel Chapman Armstrong) in 1938.  Theodore Coleman taught into the 1960s.

Theodore Coleman died on April 5, 1982 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Bonus Sources...

In the late 1940's Theodore Coleman was active in the democratic process working the Richmond 82nd Voting Precinct.

In 1900, Thomas M. Redman, Ida Redmond Coleman's Father, likely worked in the White House as President William McKinley's Servant. According to Prince William County, Virginia marriage records, Thomas and Lucy Lewis Redmond were married in 1895. Ida Redmond Coleman, was born in 1899 (according to her grave marker) and was the couple's first born child.

Theodore Coleman started at Right Tackle and like most college football starters in the 1920s, played both Offense and Defense.