If you grew up in Lynchburg, chances are you've heard stories about the Training School and know about its recent closure. Maybe you know someone who worked there. Maybe you've read books that mention it. Join us for a deep dive into the Central Virginia Training Center's long and storied history. In honor of his recently released book The Colony, the Training School, & the Training Center, Dr. Polloway will present the facts and answer questions from the audience.

The Colony, the Training School, & the Training Center

by Edward A. Polloway, Ed.D. and J. David Smith, Ed.D.

For over a century, the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded admitted and housed well over 13,000 individuals who were deemed to be disabled and said to need being committed to the state facility. Over time, the institution changed its name four times and became the Lynchburg State Colony, the Lynchburg Training School and Hospital, and finally the Central Virginia Training Center. This history provides a virtual case study of this social experiment, beginning with the invention of institutions elsewhere, the founding of the colony and rationale for its existence, its growth and change and ultimately its closure. Practices at the institution, and its sister institution the Petersburg State Colony, reveal the story of racial segregation, non-compensated labor, educational and training efforts, and the widespread adoption of involuntary eugenic sterilization for which Lynchburg was essentially the home. This is also the story of those individuals who were sent to the Colony and how their life was profoundly impacted as a result.

-Publisher Marketing