The James Solomon Russell – Saint Paul’s College Museum and Archive will host a dinner and documentary premiere from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at the Gateway Event Center at Virginia State University.

The commemorative dinner will precede the premiere of a documentary about the life of James Solomon Russell that was produced and directed by actress and St. Paul’s College graduate Nicci Carr.

Mr. Russell was born enslaved in Mecklenburg County in 1857. He would become an Episcopal priest and educator, founding what would become St. Paul’s College in Lawrenceville in 1888.

In 2020, following a push by the museum’s board of directors, the General Assembly honored Mr. Russell by establishing March 28 as James Solomon Russell Day in Virginia.

Tickets for the free dinner event are currently sold out online, but there is a waiting list at https://forms.gle/zyJPhX-MHcapwaCaVA. If tickets become available closer to the event, people on the wait list will be contacted.

There also will be a special James Solomon Russell Day service at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Petersburg at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 26.