(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.
With work beginning to wrap up on the new Fire Station 8 in Halls Hill, the county is asking residents to share mementos from the station’s past.
The artifacts, which can be donated temporarily or permanently, will go on display in the station’s public lobby exhibition dedicated to the history of Fire Station 8.
Bronze plaques dubbed “stumbling stones” will honor the lives of three people once enslaved in what is likely Arlington’s oldest house, the Ball-Sellers House.
The three commemorative markers are the first of their kind and will be the subject of a dedication event later this month. The event will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Ball-Sellers House (5620 3rd Street S.), which is now a free museum.
A dozen historical preservation projects across Arlington, from historically accurate home renovations to community-based projects and research, have received county funding through a new program.
The county doled out roughly $256,000 to 12 of the 19 applicants for the inaugural round of the Arlington County Historic Preservation Fund.
Using a restrictive covenant in a 1938 deed, neighbors in the Tara-Leeway Heights neighborhood convinced a developer to build a single-family home instead of a duplex.
The home, 1313 N. Harrison Street, is not far from a wall that separated the historically Black neighborhood of Hall’s Hill from single-family-home subdivisions originally built exclusively for white people. In addition to specifying that only one home can be built on the lot, a second provision in the deed bars owners from selling to people who are not white.
(Updated at 9:15 a.m. on 7/12/23) A secluded wooded area south of Pimmit Run in North Arlington with a little-known history is up for sale and Arlington County could become the buyer.
The county is considering whether to buy a 6.7-acre parcel near the Chain Bridge Forest neighborhood from the Virginia Dept. of Transportation for $2.88 million. The property, between a curving section of N. Glebe Road and Pimmit Run, includes both developable and protected land.
Moore’s Barber Shop, in Arlington’s historically Black neighborhood of Halls Hill, has survived Covid and remained in business despite competition from low-cost chains.
Its secret, according to owner James Moore Jr., is not a business strategy or particularly talented barber — it is community. In a video (below) produced by Arlington County recently, he muses this must be what motivated his local government to offer to support in any way it could.
When living civil rights legend Joan Trumpauer Mulholland participated in sit-ins, she carried a Bible with her.
She kept her birth certificate inside “so that they could identify the body,” her son, Loki, said during an event on Saturday at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington honoring his mother’s activism.
A unique reunion will take place at Arlington National Cemetery later this month.
Descendants of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will gather with descendants of enslaved persons at the place where they once lived: Lee’s former plantation home, Arlington House.
Arlington Public Library is putting on a number of events over the next several weeks to commemorate and celebrate Black History Month.
Highlights include a talk with a James Beard award winner, a documentary screening about one of Arlington’s most famous musicians, and a presentation about the historic Green Valley Pharmacy.
It appears that the new restaurant coming to the former Green Valley Pharmacy could finally be ready to open by this summer.
Over the last several months, the county has reviewed and approved a number of plans related to the proposed renovations at the historic building. Another sign of progress: recent meetings with the community that had in the past pushed back on some of those proposals.
(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) It’s set to be a busy month at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington as it continues to look for a permanent home.
The museum is participating in a number of Black History Month programs while preparing to put up new exhibits, museum director Scott Taylor told ARLnow.
