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In 1935 at least two juries were established in Fairfax County with African American members. This was significant because Blacks were usually excluded from serving on juries in Virginia. Press reports indicated that these were the first African…

Both Helen Haight and Aileen Wright were raised in the Pines, a segregated community near today’s location of Pine Ridge Park. They grew up with no telephone, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, a wood stove, and an ice box. They had to haul water…

In 1784, the Moss Family built their home Green Spring on their 540 acres of farmland. Most likely slave labor was involved in building the home. In 1795 John Moss wrote a deed of manumission (emancipation from slavery) for 14 slaves on Green Spring…

Ilda, a community located at the intersection of Guinea Road and Little River Turnpike, came into existence after the Civil War and lasted into the first half of the twentieth century. It originated when two freedmen, Horace Gibson, and Moses Parker,…

The Black community of Ilda grew along Little River Turnpike where Horace Gibson and Moses Parker operated a blacksmith shop at Prosperity Avenue. It is believed that Ilda was named for Matilda Gibson Parker, daughter of Horace Gibson and…

In 1905, William Collins, a descendant of enslaved people, bought 22 acres of land with his savings he earned while serving in the Spanish American War. Other families bought lots; Johnson, Robinson, Spriggs. The families operated truck farms and a…

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln reviewed Union troops nearby. Springdale, later known as Bailey’s Crossroads, was settled by freed enslaved people in the 1880s. The community thrived and built their own school and church. The school was built on a five-acre…

In 1867 freed formerly enslaved people moved to Alexandria (part of Fairfax County) where Charles H. Brown sold them 60 acres of land. Charles and Eliza Brown of Westchester, New York also deeded one acre of land to the “Freed Men of Fairfax County.”…

In 1955, Congregational Church members met to establish a church in Northern Virginia where all races could worship. They met in the Annandale Elementary School, openly defying the Virginia Law that required segregated seating in public assemblies.…

The church was founded in 1846 as Annandale’s Methodist Episcopal Church on farmland deeded by William Garges. The church was destroyed during the Civil War and rebuilt in 1870. The small white frame church was built by Thomas Walker and included a…