After a record-setting 2026, the Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington initiative has an additional goal for 2027.
The joint effort of the Arlington Historical Society and Black Heritage Museum of Arlington aims to use grant funds to “try to find, if we could, living descendants” of those memorialized in the “stumbling stone” project.
Tim Aiken, one of the co-directors of the initiative, made the comments at the Nov. 7 Celebrating Families in Our Green Valley Community festival, held at Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School.
Aiken presented an overview of the stumbling stone initiative, which to date has placed more than 100 brass markers in sidewalks across the county. Among them are two installed in late 2025 near the entrance to Lomax AME Zion Baptist Church in Green Valley.
The markers commemorate the lives of people enslaved in present-day Arlington between the late 1600s and mid-1800s. Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington has documented about 2,700 enslaved persons, and has uncovered the names of about 1,100.
To date, researchers have had limited success in finding descendants of those being honored. But using state grant money, the initiative has hired a professional genealogist to help with the search.
“It’s terribly difficult … but there are tricks to the trade,” Aiken said.
This Saturday, Nov. 14, the 2026 season will close with the dedication of seven markers in Pike Park at 2820 Columbia Pike.
They will honor Charles Coffee, Lucy Jones, Henson Jones, Lucy Sr., Susan, Betsey and Eliza. (Not all last names are known.) They were enslaved by the Coseen family, which in the early 19th century had purchased a 109-acre farm along the south side of Columbia Pike.
The Coseens moved to D.C. for safety during the Civil War. In 1862, when slavery was abolished there, those still held by the family were freed.
In another event, the county library system and the Memorializing the Enslaved partners are collaborating on a half-day “Black History Revealed” genealogy workshop.
Funded by a Virginia Humanities grant, the program will discuss genealogy tools in the morning and give participants the opportunity to work on their own research, guided by genealogy experts, in the afternoon.
The workshop is free, but registration is required.
