Black Heritage

107th USCT at Fort Corcoran

The 107th United States Colored Troops (USCT) in Arlington is an often overlooked story. This regiment of African American soldiers was stationed in Fort Ethan Allen and Fort Corcoran during the last days of the American Civil War. The photographs of the regiment in Arlington are some of the most…
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Jennie D. Park

Starting in the 1930s, the park became a major hub for Black baseball clubs in the region, where game days were lively, social epicenters for the community.
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John Robinson

A strong believer in equal rights for all, Robinson provided help to those in need, whatever their race or age, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
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The Hicks Store and Restaurant

In the early 1900s, residents living in Halls Hill and High View Park established their own local stores, churches, and schools. Many of these businesses were family-owned “Ma and Pa” stores. They supported the predominantly African-American community of formerly enslaved people who settled there…
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James Parks

Arlington House was not only home to the Custis-Lee family but also to sixty-three enslaved people who lived and worked there. Among those enslaved individuals was James Parks, also known as Jim Parks. Without him, the story of Arlington would not be complete.
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John Boston - An Escape from Slavery, 1862

Early in the Civil War, fighting between Northern and Southern armies drove thousands of African-Americans to seek freedom and refuge behind Union lines. By 1862, their growing numbers forced the Federal government to address the problem of supporting the formerly enslaved and their emancipation…
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Fire Station #8

Since 1918, the Halls Hill Volunteer Fire Department has been protecting their community

Since 1918, the Halls Hill Volunteer Fire Department has been protecting their community. Despite underfunding, outdated equipment, and prejudice, these firefighters have set a standard for generations to come. In 1902, the Virginia Constitution was passed, and it became the norm for…
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The Jones Family

Multiple generations of the Jones family, both enslaved and free before the Civil War, lived in Arlington’s Green Valley/Nauck neighborhood and helped build an active and thriving African American community there. The earliest records are for Edy Jones, who was mentioned in a February 1786 list…
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The Jefferson School

The Jefferson School opened in 1870 to educate African-American students

The Jefferson School opened in 1870 to educate African-American students. It was built near where the Army Navy Country Club house is located in South Arlington. The school was named after the "Jefferson district," where it was located. Arlington, then part of Alexandria County, was…
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Hoffman-Boston School

In 1915, Hoffman-Boston took shape as the first junior high school for African-Americans in Arlington

The school's nomenclature was chosen to honor two remarkable individuals who had made enduring contributions as principals in the African-American country schools: Edward Clarendon Hoffman and Ella Boston.
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Evelyn Syphax

Evelyn Syphax devoted much of her time to education. She served as chairman of the Arlington School Board and led a successful overhaul of the county’s desegregation plan to reduce long bus rides for minority students.
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William T. Syphax: Taking a Stand

After seeing how many Blacks in Arlington County had to accept unsafe and inadequate conditions in the predominantly segregated Northern Virginia housing market, the couple began to concentrate on building well-crafted and affordable homes for their community.
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Hall's Hill Segregation Wall

Along the rear property line of the white homes which bordered Hall's Hill, including the neighborhoods of Fostoria and Waycroft, residents constructed a seven foot tall cinderblock wall.
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Hall's Hill/High View Park (HHHVP)

Hall's Hill/High View Park (HHHVP) commemorates the history and values of this predominantly African-American community. In 2004, artist Winnie Owens-Hart, a native of Hall's Hill, was commissioned to develop two artworks to reflect on the neighborhood's history. Memory Bricks grew…
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Pelham Town

One of the lesser-known Black communities was Pelham Town, a small neighborhood near the Marymount Campus, between today’s 24th Street and N. Wakefield Street.
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Dr. Roland H. Bruner

An unassuming and selfless family man who committed himself to serving others

Dr. Roland H. Bruner served as a physician to Arlington’s African-American community for 45 years in an era where segregation and bigotry barred hospital access to minorities
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Queen City

As Freedman’s Village began to decline - and especially after it was closed in 1900 - residents of the Village had to find new places to live. One such area was the nearby community known as East Arlington. Within East Arlington, two acres of land were purchased by the Mount Olive Baptist Church…
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Freedman's Village

Freedman’s Village provided protection, education, instruction, and employment to its African-American residents

On property that today houses the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, a little-known, thriving African-American community called Freedman’s Village once stood. Established and formally dedicated by the U.S. Government in 1863, Freedman’s Village was located on land that surrounds Arlington…
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Sojourner Truth

Born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree (sometimes written as Bomfree) in 1797, Truth was enslaved in Dutch-speaking Ulster County, New York, where she was bought and sold four times throughout her life. In 1827, she escaped with her daughter, Sophia, after her master failed to uphold the recently…
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Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

The Lomax African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church was built in 1922 and is the oldest African-American church in Arlington. In 1963, when Martin Luther King, Jr. led the March on Washington and delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, he also visited Arlington. King delivered a speech in…
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Green Valley Pharmacy

Among the most recognized and cherished businesses in Green Valley

The Green Valley Pharmacy is a local landmark and an important part of Arlington’s African American history. Among the most recognized and cherished businesses in Green Valley, the Green Valley Pharmacy has helped to shape and define the local community for more than 60 years. Dr. Leonard Muse, or…
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Harry W. Gray House

He was a skilled mason and built the high masonry wall that surrounds what is now Arlington National Cemetery

Harry W. Gray (see photo courtesy NPS) was born enslaved in about 1851 on the Custis-Lee estate at Arlington. He built his own house in 1881. He was a skilled mason and built the high masonry wall that surrounds what is now Arlington National Cemetery. His daughter, Martha Gray Gillem, said in an…
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Abingdon Manor

The Abingdon ruins have remained largely undisturbed, despite the surrounding construction and expansion of Washington National Airport

On March 5, 1930, Abingdon, also known as the Alexander-Custis Estate, burned to the ground. Abingdon was an 18th- and 19th-century estate owned by the prominent Alexander, Custis, Stuart, and Hunter families. The estate's site is now on the grounds of the Ronald Reagan National Airport, where…
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Roberta Flack's Arlington Roots

Flack attended Hoffman-Boston High School – then the only school available for African American children in Arlington – until age 15, when she was awarded a full music scholarship to Howard University
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Charles Drew House

Dr. Charles Drew pioneered blood banking from the 1920s to 1940s and lived in a modest two-story frame house in North Arlington. He was also the first African American to receive a Doctorate of Science in Medicine. As Chief of Surgery at Freedmen's Hospital (now Howard University Hospital),…
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