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.
Arlington’s Ethiopian community works hard to successfully integrate into the broader community while retaining and celebrating its traditions.
That was the view of panelists as a Black History Month program convened Thursday (Feb. 13) by the Arlington Historical Society.
Wax sculptures celebrating Black History Month and other pieces of art are on display in two new exhibits at Pentagon City’s mall.
The limited-time installations at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City showcase notable Black figures from throughout U.S. history, as well as artwork from the Arlington Artists Alliance.
A history-making Black female leader retired Friday after a 30-year career at the Arlington County Fire Department.
Tiffanye Wesley — the department’s first Black female lieutenant, captain, battalion chief and deputy chief — celebrated her last day at the agency surrounded by dozens of friends and fellow firefighters.
Construction of the Pentagon’s road network in the early 1940s was responsible for the mass displacement of an African-American neighborhood in South Arlington.
A new historical marker aims to bring the history of that community — Queen City — and its residents to future generations.
The Arlington County Board has approved several new investments in projects involving local history.
Officials signed off on a total of $65,000 in funding on Saturday for operational costs at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington, facility improvements at the Arlington Historical Museum and the installation of 30 markers indicating where people were enslaved in Arlington.
As the much-anticipated Missing Middle trial began this week, the Arlington NAACP is arguing that the case has wide-ranging implications for racial equity.
In a 55-page amicus brief filed in advance of opening statements on Monday, the local NAACP chapter argued that single-family zoning has racist origins and that undoing Missing Middle would be a step backward for racial progress.
Some Arlington sidewalks will soon contain “stumbling stones” identifying locations where people were once enslaved.
Forthcoming markers in and around county rights of way, unanimously approved by the Arlington County Board on Saturday, are part of “Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington” — an Arlington Historical Society project seeking to uncover and chronicle the history of Arlington’s enslaved population.
A new marker commemorating Black troops who fought in the Civil War has been installed at Fort Ethan Allen Park.
An official unveiling for the new sign at 3829 N. Stafford Street is scheduled for Thursday, June 20 — the day after Juneteenth. The marker commemorates the 107th United States Colored Troops, which ran drills and manned the ramparts at Fort Ethan Allen and other Arlington forts starting in October 1865, guarding D.C. following the end of the war.
Several projects approved in Arlington’s inaugural round of historic preservation grants may need some more time to wrap up.
The Arlington County Board on Saturday will consider extending agreements with five projects that were among the first to receive county dollars last year from the Historic Preservation Fund. The grant recipients originally agreed to finish by June 30, but due to “unpredictable delays,” a county report recommends pushing back the deadline to Dec. 31.
After moving from one temporary location to another on Columbia Pike, The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington has settled into its new digs — for now.
The museum is currently located on the first floor of the Ethiopian Community Development Council building (3045B Columbia Pike), but it has bounced around the Pike ever since it transitioned from an online museum to a physical location in 2018.
(Updated at 3:55 p.m.) Black History Month starts today and events are planned throughout the month in Arlington to honor the history and achievements of African Americans past and the present.
As Black History Month, February pays “tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society,” according to the Library of Congress.
