Facing ongoing gentrification issues, Arlington’s historically Black communities are trying to preserve the social cohesiveness that helped residents triumph over past struggles.
“It used to be [that] when something happened, the community coalesced. It’s not what it used to be — some people don’t want to be bothered,” said Wilma Jones, who has written extensively about her Halls Hill/High View Park community.
Jones was joined by Portia Clark, former president of the Green Valley Civic Association, in a Monday online Black History Month presentation hosted by the Arlington NAACP.
Both communities have seen major demographic changes since the days when housing opportunities were rigidly segregated in Virginia.
Green Valley’s population was estimated to be 99% Black in 1960.
By 1990 that number had dropped to 79% — and then changes quickly intensified. Estimates from 2024 say Green Valley’s Black population is just 18%.
Like Jones, Clark said that in earlier times, her community for generations was “a thriving area where the people helped each other.”
Now, “we don’t have that kind of closeness,” Clark said. “Some neighbors know neighbors, others just say ‘hi’ and ‘bye.’ There’s not a lot of caring that there was. That’s something we’ve got to build back up.”
The rapid increase in housing costs and the influx of new arrivals has caused “a lot of contention,” she said.
“New neighbors and old neighbors don’t [always] get along — we’re working on that,” said Clark, who grew up in the Green Valley community when it was known as Nauck.
At the end of the 19th century, following the closure of Freedman’s Village, Arlington had a host of segregated African-American neighborhoods. In addition to Green Valley, founded in 1844, and Halls Hill/High View Park, established in 1866, there was Queen City, East Arlington, Hatfield, Johnson’s Hill and Butler-Holmes (now Penrose).
Some were working-class, some more middle-class, communities. Green Valley catered to those up and down the economic ladder.
But the dawn of the 20th century brought efforts by the white political/economic establishment to constrict housing options for Black residents, Jones said.
“Developers who were political leaders made the rules,” she said. “Black residents were targets. Google ‘Good Citizens League Arlington‘ and you’ll see. As a result, many Black people moved out of Arlington.”
Circling back to the present day, both speakers voiced concerns about housing costs and inequitable public-education opportunities among the county’s challenges.
Despite concerns, neither speaker believes the tight-knit neighborliness of the past will completely disappear in the future.
“It’s not what it used to be, but it’s not as bad as it could be,” Jones said. “We do have a group of people who are committed.”
“We have come this far by faith, and we won’t turn back,” Clark said. “We’re going to keep moving forward.”
The Arlington NAACP’s president, the Rev. DeLishia Davis, said an understanding of the historical context was key to moving forward.
She praised “the stories, the struggles, the triumphs of those who paved the way for us in Arlington.”
The Feb. 24 meeting also included a remembrance of singer Roberta Flack, who died earlier that day at age 88.
Though born in North Carolina, Flack grew up in Arlington starting at the age of 5. Her musical prowess was passed down through her mother Irene, who was a longtime organist at Lomax AME Zion Church.
“We will miss her — she was another great from Green Valley,” said Clark.
