Historical Resources

County History

A Guide to the African American Heritage of Arlington County, Virginia – Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, Historic Preservation Program (second edition, 2016): A wide-spanning look at the history of Arlington’s African American community, focusing on the often-overlooked people, places and events that contribute to this history. The guide includes sections on Freedman’s Village, numerous neighborhoods in Arlington, schools, churches, and other events spanning from the 1800s to the 1960s.
Arlington 1920-2020: Looking Both Ways – Arlington County, 2020: Timeline of Arlington’s history from 1920 Census data, along with spreadsheets from the 1920 Census itself.
- 1920 StoryMap
Arlington’s African-American Baseball Teams – Center for Local History blog, July 17, 2019: A brief look at the African American baseball teams who played in the High View Park area in the early 1900s.
Arlington County Sit-Ins: How a Group of Students Desegregated the County's Restaurants and Lunch Counters – Arlington County Projects & Planning (view in Chrome to view full digital timeline or as a one-page resource): Timeline of how a group of students with the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG) worked to desegregate the County’s restaurants and lunch counters. Spans the year 1960 with particular focus in the month of June, when the group concentrated their demonstration efforts.
Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
- Digital Collections (Project DAPS, Nauck/Green Valley Heritage Project, Women’s Work)
- Community Archives (below is a selection of relevant collections)
  - RG 196: Records of the Syphax Family, 1920-1993
  - PG 100, Arlington County Government Photographs, 1915-1997
  - PG 250, Documenting Arlington's Changing Scene (1997-2019)
  - Oral History Transcripts
    - Digitized transcripts (available online in full)
      - 3:58 - Dorothy Hamm
      - 3:59 - Floyd A. Hawkins
      - 3:126 - Evelyn Syphax
    - Not digitized (just a few examples of many)
      - 3:291 - Newman, Lance: Interview discusses desegregation of Arlington Public schools - Newman was one of the original students who desegregated Stratford.
      - 3: 298 - Jones, Michael: Interview also discusses desegregation of APS with another one of the first Black students to attend Stratford.
      - 3:1a - Alston, Birdie: Alston was a leading coordinator for the High View Park conservation plan. Interview discusses Arlington NAACP, police brutality, and segregation.
      - 3:4 - Barber, Rayfield: Barber was one of the first Black taxicab owners in Arlington. He moved to Alexandria in 1920, and later lived in Arlington during the Great Depression. Discusses changes to both Alexandria and Arlington from the early 20th century.
Built By the People Themselves - African American Community Development in Arlington, Virginia, from the Civil War Through Civil Rights – GMU dissertation by Dr. Lindsey Bestebreurtje, 2011: This paper “tracks African American community development as the processes of suburbanization and segregation shaped lives, the built environment, and the law in the northern Virginia county of Arlington from the 1860s to the 1970s.”
- See also: Digital companion piece to the article
Echoes of Little Saigon: Collecting and Preserving the Cultural History of the Vietnamese Community in Arlington, Virginia –Arlington Public Library and Virginia Tech Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, multimedia digital museum/website: Digital project with the collected stories of the Vietnamese community who immigrated to, shopped at or owned businesses in Arlington, Virginia’s Clarendon neighborhood when it was known as “Little Saigon” during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Echoes of Little Saigon: Vietnamese Immigration and the Changing Face of Arlington – Kim A. O’Connell, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 2016 (booklet produced in collaboration with Arlington’s Cultural Affairs Division, Historic Preservation Program, and Center for Local History): This 28-page illustrated, full-color booklet documents and interprets the impact of Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian immigrants who concentrated around the faded pre-Metro commercial center of Clarendon after the 1975 fall of South Vietnam.
“If You Don’t Vote, You Don’t Count” – Center for Local History blog, August 15, 2019: Article looks at poll taxes and dual registrations, two systems that were used in Virginia between 1876 and 1966 in order to restrict who had access to voting. The post also discusses the Arlington NAACP’s efforts to encourage voting and organize legal efforts against voter suppression.
Legacy: Hall’s Hill VFD and Station No. 8 – Peter Golkin, Center for Local History blog, August 4, 2015: A timeline of the history of the Hall’s Hill Volunteer Fire Department, which for decades during segregation was the only Arlington station staffed by African Americans.
The Burial of Colored Troops at Arlington National Cemetery – George M. Dodge, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 11, no. 1, October 1997: The stories of certain African-American soldiers and sailors that are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
The History of the LGBTQIA+ community in Arlington(PDF, 2MB) – Learn more about some of the local prominent figures, events, and other happenings in the Pride movement.
The K.K.K. in Arlington in the 1920s – Janet Wamsley, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 10, no. 1, October 1993: Overview of the presence of the KKK group based in Ballston in the 1920s.

People/Personal Narratives

The Land of Maria Syphax and the Abbey Mausoleum – Dorothy E. Abbott, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 7, no. 4, October 1984: Brief overview of the life of Maria Syphax and her family.
Oral History: Interview with Firefighter Julian Syphax – Center for Local History blog, February 27, 2018: Julian Syphax was one of the first paid Black firefighters in Arlington as well as one of the first paid firefighters at the Hall’s Hill station. This interview details his time as a firefighter and the close-knit community of the Hall’s Hill neighborhood.
Nauck Activist Joan Cooper – Center for Local History blog, January 17, 2019: Cooper was an activist for nearly 50 years in the Nauch community, and helped to advocate for an integrated school system in Arlington County. She was also an anti-drug activist.
See also: Notable women of Arlington: Second series
George Melvin Richardson: Hoffman-Boston Principal, 1954-1965 – Center for Local History blog, February 7, 2019: Richardson was on the initial 1954 committee to study desegregation of the Arlington Public Schools, and principal of Hoffman-Boston from 1954 until the school was closed in 1965. As a resident of the Arlington View neighborhood, Richardson also worked to create the area’s Neighborhood Conservation Plan (one of the first in the county), and later served on the executive board for the Arlington Committee of 100.
- See also: Oral History with George Melvin Richardson and RG 307: The George Melvin Richardson Collection
Cub Scout Pack 589 and Ernest Johnson – Center for Local History blog, February 14, 2019: Ernest Johnson was the founder of Cub Scout Pack #589, as part of his efforts to give African American children in segregated Arlington a variety of activities to participate in. Johnson was also director of the County’s Negro Recreation Section, and later went on to become Supervisor of Centers when the Parks and Recreation Department desegregated.
- See also: PG 218: The Ernest E. Johnson Collection (photographs)
Edmond C. Fleet, Community Swimming Pool Supporter – Center for Local History blog, April 18, 2019: Fleet was Nauck community activist and leader in organizing a public pool for Black Arlingtonians. His career is detailed in this blog post and in his donated collections at the Center for Local History.
- See also: RG 11 – The Papers of Edmund C. Fleet, and Notable Women of Arlington: Four Biographies (includes section on Edmund’s wife Alice Fleet, also a community activist)
Oral History: Interview with Native American Navy Pilot Thomas Oxendine – Center for Local History blog, October 26, 2017: Oxendine served as a Navy pilot, and later transitioned to civilian life as the head of public information with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Arlington, Virginia. This oral history interview details the complex history of Native American and United States Federal Government relations in the 20th century, and is a source on Veteran, Native American, and United States founding history.
Hispanic Heritage Month: An Interview with Vanessa Cárdenas – Center for Local History blog, October 13, 2017: In this interview, Vanessa Cárdenas shares her memories of her time at Washington and Lee High School, the importance of the Latin American Student Association in her life, and her service to her fellow students.
Oral History: Interview with Nguyen Ngoc Bich – Center for Local History blog, May 7, 2018: Nguyen Ngoc Bich was a community leader in Little Saigon, and in this interview, describes the Vietnamese community in Arlington from 1975, 1980, including the area that became known as “Little Saigon.”

School Desegregation

Project DAPS: Exploring the Desegregation of Arlington Public Schools – Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History: Online exhibition & searchable database of archival materials related to the desegregation of Arlington Public Schools.
The Story of Arlington Public School Desegregation – Center for Local History blog, January 11, 2018: Longform piece on the desegregation of Arlington Public Schools, detailing NAACP advocacy, grassroots efforts, and the court cases that led to the integration process.
Oral History: Desegregation of Arlington’s Public Schools – Interview with Dorothy Hamm – Center for Local History blog, February 9, 2019: Interview with Dorothy Hamm, who lived in Arlington at the height of the battle to desegregate Arlington’s public schools, and was a key part of different lawsuits throughout the county to integrate not only the schools but restaurants, hospitals, and theaters.
- See also: A Fight for Educational Equality: Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Hamm – Center for Local History blog
Oral History: Attending Hoffman-Boston High School in the 1940s – Center for Local History blog, September 3, 2020: Interview with Delores C. Downing, who attended Hoffman-Boston from the beginning of her schooling at age five to her graduation at 16, when she was the youngest of a four-person graduating class. In the interview, Downing talks about her time in school, businesses in her neighborhood, the construction of the Pentagon, and what it was like growing up in Arlington.
“It’s Just Me: The Integration of Arlington Public Schools” – Arlington Educational Television, January 21, 2016: Hourlong video documenting the events leading to the February 2, 1959 integration of Stratford Junior High School.
Back to Stratford: Honoring Arlington's History Makers - February 16, 2016. Includes photos of a 2016 commemorative event and video of a panel discussion with 3 of the 4 desegregating students
Arlington School Desegregation: A History – Cecilia Michelotti, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 8, no. 4, October 1988: Detailed narrative and chronology of the Arlington Public Schools’ desegregation process.

Neighborhoods

Nauck/Green Valley Heritage Project: Exploring the History and Heritage of Arlington’s Nauck Neighborhood – Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History: Digital repository for images, memories, and documents related to the history of Arlington’s Nauck neighborhood.
Lee Highway Legacy Businesses – Virginia Tech’s Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program, 2017: Exploration of the history of longstanding, or “legacy,” businesses in Arlington County, VA. The study focused on two areas: the neighborhoods along the Lee Highway corridor and the historically African-American Nauck/Green Valley neighborhood.
- Note: These oral histories are also in the process of being catalogued at the Center for Local History.
Bridge Builders of Nauck/Green Valley: Past and Present – Dr. Alfred O. Taylor, (2015). Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing Co. (available at Arlington Public Library): Stories, interviews, and biographies of bridge builders (both past and present) who have made local and national contributions and their connections with Arlington County’s oldest African American community.
My Hall’s Hill Family: More Than a Neighborhood – Wilma Jones, (2018). [Arlington, Va.]: Wilma J, LLC. (available at Arlington Public Library): Details the small community that got its start in 1850 when 327 acres of land were purchased by a white man, Bazil Hall, for a plantation. Following the Civil War, neighborhood residents were all African American. This book is a historic memoir that tells the story of the Halls Hill neighborhood from the perspective of the Jones family.
From Freedman’s Village to Queen City – Center for Local History blog, January 31, 2018: Brief overview of the African American community Freedman’s Village, and its successor, Queen City, another African American community that was dismantled by the federal government to build the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.
- See also: Remembering Arlington’s Freedman’s Village, Center for Local History blog
Green Valley Pharmacy – Center for Local History blog, February 22, 2019: Established in 1952, the Green Valley Pharmacy is the first (and only) pharmacy and lunch counter in Arlington that would serve African American patrons during the Jim Crow era. In 2013, Green Valley Pharmacy was named as an Historic District by the Arlington County Board, and founder Dr. Leonard “Doc” Muse was honored by the Arlington NAACP with the Community Appreciation Award.
- See also: Oral history with Dr. Leonard “Doc” Muse, Center for Local History blog
A View from Hall’s Hill: African American Community Development in Arlington, Virginia from the Civil War to the Turn of the Century – Lindsey Bestebreurtje, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 15, no. 3, 2015: This paper tracks the Hall’s Hill neighborhood’s history from its earliest development, and how the residents there helped shape the County as a whole.
How Eminent Domain Destroyed an Arlington Community – Nancy Perry, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 16, no. 1, 2017: For 50 years, from 1892 until 1942, a bustling African American neighborhood was located in Arlington County, Virginia, on a wedge of land now occupied by a portion of the road system west of the Pentagon building. This paper discusses the loss of the East Arlington neighborhood to eminent domain and construction of the Pentagon building.
The Bottom: An African American Community Rediscovered – Jessica Kaplan, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 16, no. 2, 2018: Details “The Bottom,” an African-American neighborhood by the west end of the Chain Bridge that was established before the Civil War, and that stood through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, and suburbanization.

County Naming

Arlington Celebrates Its Naming Centennial – Arlington County site marking the 100th anniversary of the naming of Arlington County, when on March 17, 1920, Gov. Westmoreland Davis signed legislation formally changing the county’s name from Alexandria County to Arlington County.
100 Years Ago: General Assembly to Consider “Arlington” as County’s New Name
100 Years Ago: Call to Rename Alexandria County “Arlington”
Images of Arlington County 1920: A Centennial StoryMap – Charlie Clark and the Arlington Historical Society, October 2019: “To commemorate the 2020 centennial of the renaming of Arlington County, Va., we present a photo “storymap” showing images of homes, schools, stores, government buildings and transportation facilities that existed here in 1920. They are the sights those newly renamed Arlingtonians would see during, say, an early-morning walk, or a ride on a horse, car or trolley.”
Why is it named Arlington? – Ghosts of DC blog, February 16, 2012

Street Naming

Do You Know What Your Street Used to Be Named? – Center for Local History blog, January 15, 2013: A look into how Arlington made sense of its street names and paved the way for our first federal building.
Arlington County Virginia Directory of Street Names (1935) – Center for Local History Community Archives, RG 28: Pamphlets and Ephemera, 1847-1995: A guide to the new street name system for Arlington County after the street naming scheme was adopted in 1934.
Here’s why Arlington’s streets have the names they do – Matt Johnson, Greater Greater Washington, republished August 27, 2020
The Renaming of Arlington Streets – C.L. Kinnier, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 1, no. 3, October 1959: History of the process of establishing Arlington’s street-naming process in 1932.

Redlining

Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America – University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, University of Maryland: While not Arlington-specific, this digital project focuses on redlining across the country, with information and maps/data sets from many American cities.
Mapping Segregation in Washington DC – Prologue, DC, 2020: “The ongoing, lot-by-lot documentation of racial deed covenants is set in the context of DC’s demographic transformation over the course of several decades. Primary documents, archival news clippings, photographs, and oral testimony also contribute to the stories these maps tell.”
Racial Inequities in the Washington, DC, Region – Leah Hendey, Urban Institute, Washington Area Research Initiative, December 2017: Briefing on equity gaps in the DC region, including information on demographics, education, income, employment, housing, and mobility.

Housing/Zoning

Missing Middle Housing Study – Arlington County Housing Division main site
Missing Middle Housing Study: Research Compendium – Arlington County Housing Division, June-August 2020: Comprised of five bulletins, the collection introduces housing types and terms, provides an overview of Arlington’s current housing inventory, presents background information on housing affordability, reviews the history of land use and zoning policies, and illuminates how the combination of these elements have shaped the way Arlington exists today.
The Fastest Growing County in America: Suburbanization, Segregation and Community Development in Arlington - This presentation explores segregation and racialized zoning and planning laws in Arlington to see how these policies impacted the county’s suburban growth from the 1900s to the 1970s. (Arlington Historical Society)
Zoning Studies – Arlington County: Current and past zoning studies conducted by the County.
Affordable Housing Master Plan – Arlington County, adopted September 19, 2015, amended December 16, 2017
A History of Residential Development, Planning, and Zoning in Arlington County, Virginia – Virginia Tech, April 2020: “An explanation of how Arlington’s residential development evolved through local, state, and federal policy changes, federal funding, transportation planning, and wholesale community redevelopment is provided in this report.” Arlington’s Affordable Housing History – Arlington County Department of Housing: Timeline of the County’s affordable housing efforts from the 1960s to the present.
Early Planning Process in Arlington County, Virginia to 1945 – Frank L. Dieter, Arlington Historical Magazine, vol. 3, no. 3, October 1967: Overview of the County’s planning policies in the first half of the 20th century.
Zoning Matters: How Land-Use Policies Shape Our Lives – Housing Matters, an Urban Institute Initiative, June 12, 2019: Video and resource guide on contemporary zoning and housing issues.
How Communities Are Rethinking Zoning to Improve Housing Affordability and Access to Opportunity – Solomon Greene and Jorge González, Urban Institute blog, June 12, 2019: Brief look at how some cities have creatively approached zoning and land-use reforms.

County Resources

Resources for Immigrants – Arlington County: County site with resources related to immigrants, including legal aid services, current events, and resources for community organizations.
Essential Guide to Arlington County’s Comprehensive Plan – Arlington County CPHD: The document guides coordinated development on community services including: land use, transportation networks, transportation modes, parking, historic preservation, affordable housing, sanitary sewer system, recycling, public spaces, natural resources, urban forestry, public art, community energy, water distribution, Chesapeake Bay preservation, and stormwater management.
Open Arlington – Arlington County: County portal for accessing data related to County programs and services.