Henrico Black History Month Spotlight – Joseph Rayfield Vines, Jr.
Music educator, minister, and civil rights advocate Joseph Rayfield Vines, Jr. devoted his life to expanding opportunity through both activism and the arts, leaving a wide-ranging legacy across Central Virginia’s classrooms, churches, and civic organizations.
Born Nov. 4, 1936, in Suffolk, Vines graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1957 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in music from Norfolk State College. As a young man troubled by segregation, he emerged as a local leader during the civil-rights movement, organizing protests and sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Suffolk in February 1960. He was arrested and fined, but the demonstrations helped spur change in the city.
Vines later continued his studies, earning a master’s degree in music education from Virginia State University and both a master of divinity and a doctorate of ministry from Virginia Union University.
An accomplished musician, he moved to the Richmond region to serve as minister of music at Trinity Baptist Church and spent more than three decades teaching conducting, theory, and percussion for the Gospel Music Workshop of America Inc.. His career in education included band-director posts in Sussex, Buckingham, and Fairfax counties, as well as in Petersburg and Richmond. Known for mentoring students and stressing the importance of scholarship and service, Vines was named Teacher of the Year by Richmond Public Schools in 2000 and retired from the system in 2003.
His public leadership extended well beyond music. Vines was elected president of the Henrico County NAACP in 2004 and later headed the Virginia NAACP State Conference in 2007 and again in 2010. He worked persistently to restore voting rights for formerly incarcerated people and served with groups such as the Henrico Ministers' Fellowship and the Virginia Baptist State Convention.
Described as “a lifelong crusader of freedom for all,” Vines was pastor of Hungary Road Baptist Church at the time of his death (Aug. 25, 2012) at his home in Glen Allen. He was buried at Carver Memorial Cemetery in Suffolk.
