The effort to memorialize people enslaved in Arlington is receiving an additional push over the coming month before it takes a winter break.
Six “stumbling stone” ceremonies have been planned through mid-November at locations across the county. They began Saturday in the Arlington View neighborhood with the unveiling of three new bronze markers embedded into the sidewalk.
“It represents a story of faith, of family, of perseverance and of contributions of those that paved the way for the opportunities we now enjoy,” said Craig Syphax, speaking on behalf of the Arlington View Civic Association and the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington.
The museum collaborates with the Arlington Historical Society on the Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington initiative. It has worked to identify those held in bondage in what today is Arlington from the 1600s to the 1860s.
Located adjacent to a small community park at S. Queen Street and 12th Street S., just south of Columbia Pike, the new markers honor Ann Brooks Johnson and two of her nine children, Margaret and Frank Johnson.
Ann Brooks Johnson was born circa 1830, with Margaret born around 1849 and Frank in 1856. Sarah and John R. Johnston enslaved all of them in what is now the Arlington View neighborhood, previously known as Johnson’s Hill.
“The name of Ann’s [second] husband remains unclear, though in the 1870 census she was listed as married to Peter Johnson. All her children also had the surname Johnson,” researchers said.
Eight of her nine children were born into captivity, they found, adding:
“According to the 1860 census, John R. Johnston enslaved 15 people just before the Civil War, at least half were Johnsons. The Emancipation Proclamation brought freedom to the clan and to the enslaved people living in Arlington on Jan. 1, 1863. The family remained on the Johnston farm as sharecroppers to make ends meet. Ann and her husband Peter resided in the Johnson’s Hill area their entire lives as did Frank and his family. Margaret and many of her siblings lived in the District of Columbia.”
The family initially labored on a farm in Fairfax County under Sarah and her first husband, a Mr. Stone.
It is believed Ann Johnson died around 1900. Margaret Johnson married and raised two sons and two daughters, but researchers have not uncovered her date or place of death.
Frank Johnson, who married and fathered six children, worked as a laborer and later brick burner before dying in 1916. He initially was buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery, founded in 1870 by a Black fraternal organization at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Columbia Pike.
By the 1950s, the cemetery had fallen into disrepair and was purchased by a developer. The remains of those interred there were moved to Coleman Cemetery in Fairfax County.
Another of Ann Johnson’s daughters, Emma (1859-1924) in 1877 married Henry L. Holmes. Holmes served as the elected commissioner of revenue in what was then known as Alexandria County (now Arlington) from 1876-1903.
To honor that service, a community library for Black residents bore Holmes’s name from its founding in 1940 until its closure when county libraries were desegregated a decade later.
As with the installation of other memorial markers through the program, the three individuals were selected to represent the broader family.
Ken Brotherton, a volunteer historian for the Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington initiative, said researching the Johnson family yielded some verifiable facts and some clues that still need to be investigated. And, as often is the case, there were dead ends.
“Sometimes what we find in the records is we just lose track of them,” he said of family lineage.
The Arlington View markers honoring the Johnsons were funded by Carter Echols, a neighborhood resident who had done so earlier this year as a birthday present for her husband, William Johnson.
He died of cancer in September, but “I am proud to be here for both of us,” Echols said at the unveiling, which attracted about 40 people.
Dr. Frances Moore served as a cosponsor with Echols of the memorial stones.
Among them was Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, who said the markers represent “a form of restorative justice” and “a step toward community healing.”
“They honor the dead. They speak their names to keep them alive,” she said.
The project has installed memorial markers in areas across Arlington over the past year, including in the Yorktown neighborhood, on the north side of Columbia Pike and in Boulevard Manor.
Jessica Kaplan of the Arlington Historical Society told ARLnow the brisk pace of installations over the coming month was to allow for unveiling ceremonies while the weather was still amenable.
Upcoming ceremonies include:
- Lyon Village: Sunday, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. at 1412 N. Highland Street
- North Highlands/Dawson Terrace: Saturday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m., N. Taft Street and 21st Street N.
- Douglas Park: Saturday, Nov. 8 at 4 p.m., S. Quincy Street and 16th Street S.
- Green Valley: Sunday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. at Lomax AME Zion Church, 2704 24th Road S.
- Lyon Park: Saturday, Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. at N. Garfield Street and 4th Street N.
The county government has provided some grant funding for the project, but this is slated to run out at the end of the year. It is being augmented by private funding, such as the sponsorship with Echols.
Individuals, groups, religious organizations and others are invited to fund future markers. “Just about anyone can sponsor,” said Nancy Pilchen, who spearheads the financing effort.
