Advancing Social Justice in Times of Crisis by Dave Cavanaugh. October 9-10, 2009

October 9-10, 2009

Advancing Social Justice in Times of Crisis

American University’s 6^th Annual

Public Anthropology Conference

DRAFT David Cavanaugh

Question:  How can citizen activist seeking to address injustices within our community bring about the changes we desire during challenging economic and political times?

Upon completion of the presentation audience members will appreciate the history of the Fort Ward area and how it can be used to protect the existing historical park from recreational expansion and provide an opportunity to diversify the interpretation of Civil War history.  The presentation will suggest practical ideas to facilitate a more collaborative community based planning process.

Thank you.  I appreciate being here and speaking to you regarding our efforts to better diversify the interpretation and educational experience of those visiting Fort Ward by including the African American contribution.   

The coalition of citizens interested in protecting Fort Ward arose out of concern for the future of the park.  City officials and the Recreation Department and Commission had begun taking steps that would have dramatically changed the historic character of the park.  Plans were in place to convert a portion of Fort Ward Park, a park listed on the National Register of Historic Places, to a major recreation and district maintenance facility.  The plan was to increase use of the park, enlarging picnic and parking areas, making it a venue for large events.  

They City of Alexandria also planned to increase use of an existing maintenance yard that over time had been expanded by Recreation and Parks without any public involvement.  The maintenance yard was being used to store City owned trucks, supplies, compost, gravel and other park supplies.  They had converted the maintenance facility, located next to the subdivision, into a district maintenance facility for temporary storage of trash.  The physical size of the maintenance had been increased by filling in an area believed to contain grave sites.  The compacted soil increased water run-off into an existing African American Cemetery located within the Park boundaries, undermining grave markers and burial sites.  

Efforts by adjacent property owners expressing their concerns were brushed off as a Not in My Back Yard Issue (NIMBY).  There was this notion the adjacent property owners were only interested in their narrow concerns and did not fully understand the increased demand for use of City parks.

However, African American History has not been mainstreamed into the interpretation of Civil War history in Alexandria, Virginia.  Little has been written regarding the population of Contrabands that flooded into the Alexandria area.  Homeless, destitute, malnourished and in poor health, families built shacks (huts) and were forced to rely on humanitarian efforts of benevolent organizations and the Union Army.  Their suffering and survival are part of the Civil War story.

The increased awareness and interest in the unique African American experience is beginning to attract broader community support.  The planned Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and local African American Museums that have sprouted up over the last ten are examples renewed interest.  This public response is fed by a public willingness to look back at the struggle and progress made as a result of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 70s.

While James M. McPherson and other noted Civil War writers have elaborated on the active and crucial role of African Americans played during the Civil, this awareness has not widespread outside of academic circles.  Many Americans who saw the 1990 movie, Glory were surprised to find that African American, wearing Union blue uniforms fought gallantly during the Civil War. 

Near the end of the War, 1865, the Federal Government, through the Freedman’s Bureau, took on the humanitarian role of helping feed, shelter and providing clothes for the freedman.  Although circumstances for African American families certainly varied, many had picked up and left home.  Many families were homeless, hungry, destitute having to survive under wartime and uncertain conditions.  With the end of the war, government jobs and demand for labor increased and new economic relationships began to develop.  Over a period of time, African Americans helped rebuild the Seminary and Episcopal High School, and later. . . on their own, being able to buy property, establish churches and provide schools for their child.  

The active participation of the African American community is absolutely essential in gaining public support to protect and eventually share their history at Fort Ward.  It is the history of people brought to America as slaves, the struggle for freedom, enduring that makes their story unique and compelling.  History has been used to keep African Americans in their place and marginalize their contributions.  The City of Alexandria appropriated land from the African American communities to build Fort Ward and T.C. Williams High School.  As Adrienne Washington has reminded coalition members, “They can take our land, but not our history.”  

In 2007 the dedication for a new T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, no mention was made of the colored public school dedicated 70 years earlier on the same site. Douglas Wood, a former slave whose father served and died in the Civil War, obtained community support and funding for a four room school.  The former T.C. Williams High School built in the 1960s was featured in the Hollywood film, “Remember the Titans”.  

Background

At the beginning of the War, Washington, D.C. was totally unprepared.  Troops from New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island were rushed to Washington to provide limited security for the new Lincoln administration.  On April 23, Virginia voted by a small margin to secede from the Union.  Early the next morning, Federal troops moved across the bridges (Long Bridge, the Aqueduct Bridge in Georgetown, and Chain Bridge) and by steamer to Alexandria to secure the highlands overlooking the District of Columbia and the City of Alexandria.  Work began immediately to build forts near the bridges and secure the rail lines and major crossroads.  

Fort Ward is one of 68 enclosed forts that eventually circled the nation’s capital during the Civil War.  The Fort was located 3 miles northwest of Alexandria was to guard the approaches to Alexandria via routes from the West, Leesburg Pike (Route 7) and overlooked Bailey’s and Balls Cross Roads with a view of the rebel forces at Munson’s Hill.  Other nearby Forts included Fort Worth, Fort Williams. After the Battle of 1^st Manassas, and the increasing numbers of sick and wounded soldiers, the Theological Seminary was converted to a General Hospital with 925 beds.  This is one of many hospitals in Alexandria and Washington serving the growing numbers of sick and wounded where African Americans worked.  

The so called “contraband” and later “freedman” settled at the Fort and nearby areas near the Theological Seminary after the Civil War.  Later families were able to buy property, build modest homes and started churches, schools and a fraternal lodge.  

Telling the Civil War story today arouses strong passions and feelings even after nearly 150 years.  

This is no less true today in Alexandria Virginia when debating the “occupation” of Alexandria by Union 

forces, calling Confederate soldiers “rebels” or idolizing Robert E. Lee can begin a passionate debate.    

Only somewhat reluctantly historians begin to describe the important role the City of Alexandria played 

as a major Union Army supply depot, transportation center, hospital center and destination for 

thousands of former slaves seeking refuge.  The War was a tragic event that restored the Union and 

abolished slavery.  

Slave families moved in-mass to the safety of Union lines to achieve long sought freedom.  On foot and by wagon they moved down dirt roads, crossed streams into Washington, D.C., Alexandria and the outlying areas seeking refuge, food, and work.  They helped build the forts, worked at the hospitals, and served as teamsters, cooks, laundresses, dock workers, ambulance drivers.  During the War as many as 185,000 “contraband” enlisted as U.S. Colored Troops and fought and served as Union troops.  The so called “contraband” and later “freedman” settled at the Fort and nearby areas near the Theological Seminary after the Civil War.  Later families were able to buy property, build modest homes and started churches, schools and a fraternal lodge.  

I would like to take a minute to introduce you to some of the events and people that make the history of 

the Fort Ward area so interesting and relevant to us today.

Burney McKnight,

an African American (born abt 1848), is shown as living and working for Cassius F. Lee, Robert E.

Lee’s first cousin, (1870 U.S. Census) as a domestic servant.  Burney’s mother is Harriet Shorts.

Harriet and her husband Burr Shorts paid for a land survey in 1879 and five years later receive the title

for 10 acres of land at Fort Ward.  Burney will later marry William Terrell and be one of the original founders of the Oakland Baptist Church.  She died in 1930 and is buried in the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery at Fort Ward.

Douglas Wood and his wife lived nearby.  His father, William Wood, fled from his owner, enlisted and served as private in the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), at Petersburg, Virginia.  He became ill and was transported to  L’Overture Hospital in Alexandria, where he died.  

After the Civil War, Douglas was reunited with his mother, Susan, who had been taken south by her mistress during the War.  Douglas, a chauffeur for a prominent banker in Alexandria, later obtained Julius Rosenwald funding for the construction of Seminary School for colored children on 2 acres of land he had sold to Fairfax County.  The four room school house was located where T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria is located and was in existence until about 1950.

Julius Rosenwald was a part owner of Sears, Robuck and Company in 1895 and later served as its president from 1908 to 1922.  He was a wealthy philanthropist who started a school building program in 1917 that was responsible for building over 5000 colored schools in the South.  The inspiration for the idea was a result of a friendship between Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald.  A committee associated with the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now Tuskegee University, oversaw the building program.   

The Julius Rosenwald helped fund the Seminary School and the Kemper School in nearby Green Springs, in what is now Arlington.  The program required the local black community to contribute cash and in-kind donations to match the Rosenwald grant.  As a condition to obtaining the funding, the Fairfax County School Board had to build the school to certain design specifications, provide new desks and blackboards for each classroom, as well as two sanitary privies, and agree to maintain the school. 

Lancelot Blackford, (born 23 Feb 1837, died 23 May 1914) was a former Confederate officer, and highly regarded headmaster at the Episcopal High School for Boys from 1870-1913.  His diaries written entries written from 1873-1913 provide a interesting account of his daily activities including his duties, anxieties, discipline of the boys, social life and a glimpse of his feelings towards African Americans.

Harriet Cazenove, a widow, built a house and moved to the Seminary Hill area from Alexandria around 1856.  In January 1858, her brother placed an advertisement in the Alexandria Gazette:

[W]anted to hire for present year, for Mrs. Harriet Cazenove, residing of the Hill, Theological Seminary, Fairfax County Virginia, a man and woman, slaves without incumbrance.  The woman a cook or washer, the man to attend about the garden and stable.

Harriet and her son evacuated soon after Union troops marched into Alexandria.  She fled initially to Chantilly where her mother lived.  It is not known when she returned to her home near the Seminary.

Clare Adams  , the daughter of Harriet and Burr Shorts, born in 1865.  She later married Robert Adams and given three acres by her parents in 1898.  Later that year she donated ¼ of acre of land to Fairfax County in 1898 for a one room school for colored students.  The school was in operation until about 1925.  Clare worked at the Seminary and for other families during different periods of her life.  She was revered by family and friends and was one of the early founders of the Oakland Baptist Church.  She is buried on land she had owned, now part of the Fort Ward Park.  

James Jackson was born in Fauquier County in 1848.  The 1870 U.S. Census records he was a Coachman at the Episcopal High School. On August 11, 1894, Lancelot M. Blackford writes in his diary:  “Jem Jackson finished hauling coal last evening.  The job was worth to him $58.75.  In all 50 tons were hauled”

 In February 1894 received a deed for 11.5 acres of land at Fort Ward.  He died in 1923 is buried at Fort Ward, probably at the Jackson family cemetery.

What I have learned so far.  I would share some thoughts I have on what I have learned working as volunteer on the Fort Ward Project.

1. The African American contribution is not readily acknowledged or valued.  In the early 20^th Century, American history text books in the South downplay slavery and its brutality. In Margaret McMillian’s book, Dangerous Games, The Uses and Abuses of History, she describes how “even black children in segregated schools were presented with a picture of the South in which slavery and racism were largely absent.” 

At Fort Ward, the existence of former slaves in large numbers and their contribution is only now being recognized.  What we leave out of text books is as or more important than what we leave in.  

  

1. Cost and Benefits:  Civic activist must be mindful of the cost, funding, and economic benefits of any proposal during tough economic times.  During difficult economic times, expectation must be reduced.

In the case of Fort Ward, many of the visitors are predominately white civil war enthusiast with little knowledge of the presence of African Americans in large numbers in the area of the Fort.  Fort construction, types of artillery, and a “Day in Camp” have been the traditional mainstay of Fort interpretive history.  Updating the interpretation of history at the forts to include the African American experience, can help increase tourism.  

1. African American Involvement:  Social justice requires African Americans be directly involved in recording, documenting and describing their experience and contribution.  The African American experience is different.  For too long African Americans have not been actively sought out by city officials, staffs, contractors and academics to participate in local history projects.  As a result White dominated institutions have ignored important elements of their story.   This has lead to half-hearted attempts to present their history, e.g., virtual tours, self-guided tours, and podcasts. 

1. Better Utilization of Resources:  Fewer resources at the local level provide an opportunity for managers to creatively use citizens and community activist to meet time critical projects.  This does not infer excluding professional historians.  

1. Restructuring the Public Meeting Process:  Managers should have faith in the public participation process.  The process should be open and involve ad hoc groups to assist in making recommendations.  City Department staffs should break away from City “officialdom” (you are invited to a public meeting) and instead invite organized groups to plan and conduct meetings, share in making recommendation for setting priorities and using public resources.   

A park and the history of people within the major period of American history is a public shared resource.  The public involvement process should be revamped to constructively engage members of the community.  Citizens can provide supporting rationale for staff decisions and recommendations.  Decisions should not be made unilaterally or out of an abundance of arrogance. 

1. Set clear, definable goals.  It is essential activist clearly anticipate and define their goals early on.  History can motivate and inspire and it is often necessary to introduce possibilities.  Providing ideas to City officials, staffs, commission members allows them to begin envisioning possibilities.   In the case of Fort Ward, the goal is threefold, 1)  remove the maintenance yard, 2) restore and return land to the park, 4) protect known grave sites and produce an interpretive history that attracts a more diverse visitor to the park.  

The Fort Ward Project is a wonderful case study of civic activism.  If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.  

Thank you

Fort Ward Park & Museum Advisory Group. DRAFT Chapter 3 AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERIES AND BURIAL SITES

Chapter 3

AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERIES

AND BURIAL SITES

It is a well established fact that the Anglo Saxon race has for decades been insensitive to the legacy and heritage of its African American citizenry as evidenced through the destruction and desecration of many of its post civil war cemeteries.  These are places which are to be honored and respected as they are the resting place of our ancestors, our heritage.  Putting the Oakland Baptist church cemetery aside for a minute, we’ll look at other Black cemeteries lost in our immediate area.  Right down on Washington Street in Alexandria, there’s the Freedman’s cemetery, established in 1861 for African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War and freed slaves who could not be buried in white cemeteries, with roughly 1700 burials.  Until recently, for decades, a service station, an office building, and part of a highway sat on top of it.  Then in Arlington, on Johnsons Hill, the Sheraton Hotel sits atop an African American burial ground.  I understand those remains were relocated to the Coleman Cemetery, and, of course, a road sits atop a black burial ground at the Virginia Commonwealth University. These are just a small few of the African American cemeteries which have been horribly desecrated, disrespected, dishonored and disavowed largely by or with the sanctioning of city officials, generally through eminent domain.

Immediately after the civil war ended, our Seminary and Ft Ward ancestors not only needed a place to live, but they also needed a place to bury their dead.  Lacking a formal cemetery or burial ground designated for them, they had to improvise.  The most logical place for them was on their own property.  I know for a fact that there were more burial places for the Seminary community than those on the Oakland and Jackson cemetery properties.  I know for a fact that there were graves where today the Seminary homes are located in the King, Quaker, Woods and Bishop Lane area.  So, naturally with the more than 22 acres of land at the Fort owned by the Adams and Jackson families, as well as other families, there would be plenty of graves on individual property, and most logically the formal burial ground/cemetery for the members of the Oakland Baptist Church.  The known fact that African Americans buried their dead on their own property, the realignment of the cemetery, and oral testimony are the drivers of the church and community’s assertion that there are more uncovered graves in the park.  These sacred places must be located and honored. 

Fort Ward is a historic museum and park to commemorate the Civil War.  What could be more  relevant to that commemoration than the history of the very people the war was fought to free; the people who actually lived at the park.   With the addition of literature on this African American community as well as a USCT display on exhibit in the museum, and locating and preserving the lost graves, the park would benefit through increased tourism as Alexandrians and out of town visitors sought out the park.  This literature and exhibit would enhance the civil war experience for our elementary, middle and high school students.  The Parks immediate neighbors would no longer be disturbed by loud music from those individuals using the cemetery and maintenance yard for purposes other than what they were intended for. And finally, casual and recreational visitors to the park would know which areas were open to their use, whether its dog walking, jogging, or picnicking, and which areas were historic and/or sacred ground.  

We anticipate City management for the graves at Fort Ward to consist of the following aspects.

 1.  Complete research, inventory and written record of graves within the park.

      a..  Continue and complete research to identify the location of all of the existing graves within the park.  As soon as possible, and before the development and approval of the management plan, conduct the following tasks with the money that Council approved. 1) Oral history interviews of 25-30 descendant family members with first-hand information about the people who lived, worked, worshiped and are buried at Fort Ward Historic Park; 2) Oral history interviews with past and current city employees who have first-hand information about graves within the park; and 3) More detailed research related to various official city correspondence which identifies family graves and burial areas.

We understood that this work was funded by the Mayor and City Council and is to be completed as part of this effort.  This information remains central to decisions to be made as part of the Advisory Group’s management plan.

Devise a permanent solution to eliminate water runoff in the Park and more specifically the Oakland cemetery realizing that the laying of unsightly hay bales is only a temporary measure. 

      b.  All of this information should be spatially displayed on a base map and incorporated into the development of the management plan.

2.  Short-term Actions for Graves and Cemeteries in the Park.

1. As work continues status reports on the research, identification and preservation of graves and cemeteries in the park should be posted on a regular basis to inform the public of the work.

b.   Areas that are still being investigated should be enclosed with a temporary fence.

1. Debris, including damaged picnic tables, signs, trees, unused fencing, etc. should be removed from those areas of the park within view of any existing graves and cemeteries.

3.  Possible elements of the management plan.

     a.  Removal of the fences and remaining illegal structures, and structural remains, from the   maintenance yard.

b. Create a contemplative, walking path, perhaps called the “We Are Still Here Trail”, with commemorative benches, connecting all of the known, and to be identified, family graves.  At the start of the path there should be an interpretive kiosk with fixed information and brochures about what is on the path.  Along the path, at each of the family graves there should be interpretive signs recognizing the family(s) and giving the park visitor insight about the area.  The path should be ADA compliant and of a surface that is permeable (perhaps a surface similar to the one at Huntley Meadows Park).

1. Each of the graves should be recognized with some type of marker.  Family graves should be fenced.  The selection of markers and graves should be done in cooperation with the descendant family members and city officials or their designees.  
2. Copies of the “We Are Still Here Trail” brochure should be made available to park visitors in the Fort Ward Museum.
3. The Office of Historic Alexandria and the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities should develop and agree on routine park maintenance standards, including grass cutting, tree and leaf removal, invasive plant management, and soil erosion control, for park cemeteries and grave areas. 
4. Either 1) transfer the ownership of all of the family grave areas and cemeteries to an organization to be identified by the Oakland Baptist Church and the Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc.; or 2) place a conservation/ preservation easement on the grave and cemetery areas to perpetually restrict the use of these areas to graves and cemeteries.
5. Create a memorial area to recognize the Fort Ward African American community, park graves and Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery. The area should include a memorial stone with a bronze plaque, a sculpture and a modest gathering area.  The gathering area could be a place for silent meditation or information family and church events. Possible locations include the plateau where the Shorts Family lived (Map # 9, including the McKnight and Robinson Family Grave); the homesite of Sgt. Young’s Family and the Adams, Clarke and other graves (Map #12, 13, including the Old Grave Yard, graves in the nursery area and the most recent expansion of the maintenance yard); or the level area between the Old Grave Yard and Braddock Road (Map # 11 through 18).
6. All of these actions need to be coordinated, and integrated, with the ideas being developed for park interpretation once they are completed. 

Submitted by:  Lena Rainey and Frances Terrell, October 8, 2012

                 

"We Are Still Here" TALKING POINTS--J. GLENN EUGSTER. June 2, 2012

"We Are Still Here"

TALKING POINTS--J. GLENN EUGSTER

JUNE 2, 2012

CO-CHAIR OF THE FORT WARD HISTORY WORK GROUP AND THIS IS A MEETING OF THE FORT WARD HISTORY WORK GROUP.

WORK GROUP CREATED THROUGH A CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION.

IN SEPTEMBER 2009 The Office of Historic Alexandria is forming a workgroup to help document the historic and cultural resources of the Fort Ward site, and in particular, the African American community which once existed there. 

The purpose of the workgroup is to assist with research and documentation of the historic site with a specific focus on the heritage of the African American community, known as the Fort, that existed following the Civil War until the mid-20^th century when the City of Alexandria acquired the property to preserve the Union fort. 

The information gathered by the workgroup and staff will be used to help interpret and protect the Fort’s cultural and historic resources.

DEFINITION:  “a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes”. 

WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT?  IN AMERICA IT IS WHATEVER THE PUBLIC SAYS IT IS.

THE CREATION OF THE HISTORY WORK GROUP CAN AS THE RESULT OF THE CITY’S DECISION MAKING PROCESS.  IN THE 1960’S, 70’S  MASTER PLANS WERE DONE FOR THE PARK WITHOUT HISTORICAL RESEARCH OR COMMUNITY INPUT.  SOME OF THE MISTAKES WERE WELL INTENTIONED ERRORS BASED ON A LACK OF TIME, INFORMATION AND EXPERTISE.   SOME IN THE CITY HAVE SAID “WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE GRAVES” OR “WE DIDN’T THINK ANYONE CARED.

ERRORS IN DECISION-MAKING SURFACED IN 2008 WHEN A HAM-FISTED PLAN PREPARED IN THE COVER OF DARKNESS BY THE DEPT. OF RECREATION SURFACED.  THE PLAN SHOWS A DISREGARD FOR HISTORIC INFORMATION AND COMMUNITY VALUES.

IT WAS AROUND THAT TIME THAT VARIOUS COMMUNITY AND CHURCH LEADERS CAME TOGETHER, EVENTUALLY WITH THE CITY’S BLESSING AND ASSISTANCE, TO FORM A COLLABORATIVE FORT WARD HISTORY WORK GROUP.  [ WOULD ANY MEMBERS OF THE WORK GROUP HERE TODAY PLEASE STAND AND BE RECOGNIZED]  THE GROUP  HAS:  

1. COLLECTED INFORMATION ON THE CREATION OF FORT WARD PARK;
2. RESEARCHED OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND THAT WAS ACQUIRED FOR THE PARK;
3. COLLECTED CENSUS INFORMATION ON THE PEOPLE  WHO WERE LIVING  IN FORT WARD;
4. CONDUCTED ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER FORT WARD RESIDENTS AND, OR THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS;
5. RESEARCHED THE DAVIS & RUFFNER LAND RECORD COLLECTION FOR REAL PROPERTY CHAIN OF TITLE AND TRANSFER INFORMATION;
6. ASSISTED THE CITY WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN INTERPRETIVE SIGNS;
7. ASSISTED THE CITY, AND THEIR CONSULTANTS, DEVELOP A HISTORICAL RESOURCES INVENTORY OF THE PARK; 
8. ENCOURAGED CITIZEN AWARENESS AND INVOLVEMENT IN PARK DECISIONS; AND
9. CONDUCTED RESEARCH ON THE FORT WARD’S LOST GRAVES.

THIS, AND OTHER INFORMATION, IS BEING PROVIDED TO THE OHA, THE RECREATION DEPARTMENT AND THE DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION & ENVIRONMENT TO HELP THE CITY MAKE SURE THAT FUTURE PARK DECISIONS, INCLUDING THE PROPOSED PARK MANAGEMENT PLAN, WILL HELP TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF FORT WHILE MAKING THIS AREA AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC FOR RECREATION.

THE WORK GROUP MEETS THE FIRST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH, EXCEPT AUGUST, AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS IN THE CITY.  MEMBERSHIP IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.  THIS GROUP IS A WAY TO MAKE SURE ALL THE FACTS ABOUT OUR HISTORY ARE RECOGNIZED AND THAT ELECTED OFFICIALS, CITY MANAGERS, AND CITIZENS APPOINTED BY THE CITY KNOW HOW MUCH WE CARE ABOUT  FORT WARD AND THE SEMINARY AREA.

“Ft Ward” and Seminary African American Community” We’re Still Here! Program. June 2, 2012

June 2, 2012

“Ft Ward” and Seminary African American Community”

We’re Still Here!!

Part 1 – 1:00pm

 Unveiling of signage & Historical Tour  

 Commemorative Graveside Service for Clara Adams 

Part 11 – 2:00pm

                      Program at Amphitheatre

Opening …………………………………………..Frances Terrell

                                                                          Mistress of Ceremony

Scripture … ……………………………………   Lena Rainey

               Prayer …………………………………………….Donald Hayes

                                                      Pastor, Oakland Baptist Church

              Welcome  &  History Overview ……………….  Frances Terrell

              Acknowledgement & Introduction of Dignitaries ….. Pastor Hayes

              Remarks  ……………………………………..  Mayor William Euille

              Musical Selection ………………………… Oakland choir or Ensemble?

              Liturgical dance – “I Still Have Joy” …………. Kiana Hayes

Panel of City Officials and ____________

         Glenn Eugster, 

Musical Selection …………………………..Oakland Choir

Youth History ……………………………….. Magana Kabugi

Panel of Descendants

      Clifton Wanzer, Naomi Quander, Taft Henry, 

              Costello Shackleford,  Lawrence Bradby

Musical Selection ……………………………..  Choir

Closing Remarks  

Songs:   Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen    (This will come out.  Haven’t gotten order of songs yet)

I Won’t Turn Back

Lift Every Voice and Sing                        

                                                                       

                                                                       Michael Hill

                                                                       USCT Interpreter

                                                                       54^th Mass. Infantry Org

                                                Display Table located at the Amphitheatre from 1:30-4:30

Reception following at Oakland Baptist Church, 3408 King Street; Parking at TC Williams

                                                         

“Where Did We Come From?” Through the Collaborative Efforts of the Fort Ward/Seminary African American Descendant Society and Archaeologists in Alexandria, Virginia. December 28, 2013

December 28, 2013

Answering the Question, “Where Did We Come From?” Through the Collaborative Efforts of the Fort Ward/Seminary African American Descendant Society and Archaeologists in Alexandria, Virginia

By Mary Furlong and Adrienne Terrell Washington

“We’re still here” has been the theme of the efforts of the Fort Ward/Seminary African American Descendant Society to incorporate the history of their more than 140-year-old community into the public interpretation of Fort Ward Park and Museum in Alexandria, Virginia. However, “where did we come from?” remains an important question about the origins of this (archetype African American) community (similar to those established by freedmen and women during Reconstruction) which has yet to be answered through archaeological and historical research. Many of the experiences of the Fort families mirror significant events in the history and culture of the African American experience from slavery and the Civil War through the Jim Crow segregationist era to the Civil Rights movement, all in the shadow of the nation’s capital.

“The Fort” community was an African American community located on and surrounding the grounds of Fort Ward, on the edge of the City of Alexandria in the Falls Church District of Fairfax County, Virginia. Before retrocession in 1847, this area once shared borders with the nation’s capital when portions of Alexandria, Virginia were allocated to form the original federal city. Later in 1861 Fort Ward was constructed as part of the Defenses of Washington, which was a network of 68 Union Army fortifications that encircled the US capital city during the American Civil War (1861-1865) to protect the nation’s capital from Confederate attack. However, the Union forts also attracted an influx of enslaved people seeking refuge from their former southern masters under the protection of the 1861 and 1862 Confiscation Acts. Alexandria’s population swelled with African Americans and Quaker abolitionist during this period despite having two of the biggest slave trading ports on the eastern seaboard. According to Alexandria city records, in number of “colored” persons in nearby Alexandria County increased sharply from 1860 when there 2,801 African Americans living in Alexandria to 1870 when that number increased to 7,310 (44 percent of the population.) Some of the names of these residents show up in the list of blacks buried at the Contraband Cemetery which is being reclaimed as a historic site, and they are connected to families who lived in the Fort community, such as Rachel Terrell, wife of Phillip Terrell, who was listed in the records as “living near the Seminary around 1867.”

The Fort Ward community is officially recorded as beginning in 1879, when Burr and Harriet McKnight Shorts were the first African Americans to purchase a portion of the land on the grounds of Fort Ward after it was decommissioned 145 years ago. The late purchase date also reflects the delay in the sale of the land due to a title dispute of its 40 acres (Hooe v. Hoof) which was not settled in court until 1872. However, this 1879 purchase date does not likely delineate the beginning of the Fort community, the relationships between community members or their relationship with the land surrounding Fort Ward, including the neighboring Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) and Episcopal High School (EHS) campuses. Some evidence suggests that African Americans worked and lived at Fort Ward as contrabands while it was still active and at the neighboring Virginia Theological Seminary before and during the war.  Some were enslaved people who included those on loan from the Mt. Vernon plantation to build Aspinwall Hall on the grounds donated by Martha Washington’s sister; others were free people, or contrabands, who labored on the grounds as cooks, drivers, laborers, laundresses, and domestics as well as nursemaids and nannies when the Union Army took over the school and turned it into the Fairfax Seminary Hospital to treat wounded soldiers at what became known as “Camp Seminary.” 

Today, after 88 years of homeownership and building schools and churches on the properties, the Fort families, which include Caseys, Woods, Craven, Randalls, Wanzers, Terrells, Adams, Johnsons, Jackson and others, were relocated and fully merged into the nearby Seminary community primarily through lengthy and litigious eminent domain processes, and Fort Ward is now owned by the City. Members of the Fort Ward/Seminary African American Descendant Society and the historians and archaeologists who work at Fort Ward Park and other Defenses of Washington Parks have all suggested different, sometimes conflicting, founding narratives for The Fort community. Each one of these different explanations for the founding of The Fort community not only provides insight into the community’s early years, but how different sources of information about the past are valued and used by descendant community members, historians, and archaeologists. 

For example, the descendants put great stock in oral histories and oral syntax. They can point to examples where the written record is inaccurate which was the case when one probate record listed heirs to a parcel of the Shorts/McKnight property as grandchildren when in fact they were the children of the family member in question. Descendants also refer to the culturally informative 1909 Bailey v. Bailey divorce case as circumstantial evidence about the community’s origin. Among those whose oral testimony is in the transcripts are Birney McKnight Terrell and her brother, Searles McKnight. When asked when they first came to know Mrs. Bailey, Birney responds that she first knew her as a child when she came to the Seminary to work from the superintendent; Searles responds that he met Mrs. Bailey when she came her shortly after the war. Both answers suggest to the descendants that the McKnights were already living either near on or on the Fort or VTS properties before or during the Civil War.       

Another of these origin stories, favored by many of the descendant community members, is that the founding members of their community were originally enslaved workers living on or very near Fort Ward before the outbreak of the Civil War. There are several pieces of evidence that suggest that this was a possibility. Many of the members of the founding families of The Fort were listed in the 1870 federal census and other official records as living in the area prior to the first purchase of property at Fort Ward by African Americans. For example, Burr Shorts is listed as register to vote in 1867 in Fairfax County (Cartwright 2012). He and his wife Harriet Stuart McKnight Shorts, both appear in the 1870 census as living in the Falls Church District of Fairfax County. Several other members of the Shorts and McKnight families appear on the same page of the 1870 census. Of these, siblings Birney and Samuel McKnight were listed in the 1870 as domestic servants for Cassius Lee, cousin of Robert E. Lee, who was a watchful trustee of neighboring VTS and owned a plantation called Menokin adjacent to Fort Ward. Gen. Lee visited Menokin after the war. During the visit recalled by Cassius’s son, Cazenove, “[Gen. Lee] pointed to Fort Wade [sic] which was in the rear of our home,” to explain why he did not ‘take that fort.” The proximity of the rear of Menokin to the Fort community, which is west of the home, suggests to descendants that it may have been slave quarters at some point. For other accounts, Cassius Lee’s wife, Anne Eliza Gardner Lee, was a prolific writer who sent frequent letters to her friend Mrs. Samuel F. DuPont, also known as Sophie, who is a member of the Cazanove family, in which she describe her life at Menokin including one reported account in which she describes a servant with a large family who came rushing to announce the arrival of the Union soldiers at Ft. Ward. The letters and photos of the Lee/Cazanove families are part of an extensive collection at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Delaware and should provide more insight on the Fort families working the Menokin household.  

Historical documents that include the names of members of The Fort community living specifically on the property that is now Fort Ward Park that predate the Civil War have yet to be found. However, descendants suggest that this is because their descendants were held in bondage in the area, likely at Menokin. Descendants cite what they have described as “circumstantial” evidence to make these conclusions. Descendants suggest that it is likely that Birney and Samuel McKnight might have remained as servants for the Lee family and the Lee/Stuart/Carter/Cazenove clan because they had been previously been enslaved there and that other members of the McKnight family may have been in the area because they too were once enslaved by the Lees and Carters. Census, birth records and family Bibles indicate that numerous members of the Fort and Seminary residents appear to have migrated from the Prince William, Loudoun, and Fauquier counties areas of Virginia and may have been enslaved at some point by the Lee/Stuart/Carter/Cazenove clan who owned plantations in that area and throughout Virginia. For example, James Montgomery Peters, father of 19^th century Fort landowner and pig farmer John Peters, ran away from his master, James Carter of Aldie, Va., in Prince William County near the Oak Hill plantation of President James Monroe, when his brother overheard Carter talking about selling “Jim” A teamster who was familiar with the route leading to the bustling Alexandria seaport, James Peters escaped in time and joined the 1st regiment of the US Colored Troops commissioned on Mason Island in Washington, DC.  Another piece of evidence that the descendants refer to is the use of the similar names, such as Cassius used by both members of the Lee and McKnight families. Harriet Shorts’ maiden name is Stuart, also spelled Stewart, and is the first name of a Lee cousin, Harriette Stuart Cazenove.  Ann Harriotte is also the name of one of Cassius Lee’s daughters. Some descendants see these similar names as more than a coincidence, but a reflection of a deeper connection between these two families. Harriette Stuart Cazenove purchased 8 acres of land from a VTS professor adjacent to the campus in June 1856 after her husband died, according to Seminary Hill historian David Cavanaugh. She named the property “Stuartland.” Her brother placed an ad in the Alexandria Gazette on Jan. 26, 1858 stating:  “wanted to hire for the present year, for Mrs. Harriet Cazenove, residency of the [Seminary] Hill, Theological Seminary, Fairfax County, Virginia, a man and woman, slaves without encombrances. The woman, a cook and washer, the man to attend garden and stable.” The similarity of names also extends to places. Oak Hill, Oatlands and close derivates are reflected in the Fort families’ choice to name the Baptist mission, church and school they established, first as Oak Hill, then as Oakland.  

Another origin story, is the possibility that The Fort community originated as a contraband camp. This origin story, suggested by historians and archaeologists for several African American communities associated with Defenses of Washington forts, is considered a possibility worth exploring at Fort Ward. Contraband was a term assigned to escaped slaves who sought refuge in Union occupied forts throughout the South during the Civil War. The contraband policy at Fort Monroe, Virginia – which came to be called “Fort Freedom” – was developed under the leadership of Major General Benjamin Butler, who made the legal argument that slaves who were being used by the Confederate military for labor could be held by the Union military as contraband of war. The contraband policy, known as the First Confiscation Act of 1861 and the Confiscation Act of 1862, did not grant enslaved people freedom, but it did prevent the military from having to return enslaved people to their owners. The policy was also designed to allow for the Union army to benefit from the free labor of enslaved people, particularly young, able men, more than 200,000 of whom like Fort family forefathers James Montgomery Peters and William Wood eventually joined the instrumental US Colored Troops. 

Because of the conditions of war and the implementation of the contraband policy, the African American population of the Washington, DC, area including Alexandra, swelled during the Civil War. Contraband settled in small groups associated with the some of the Defenses of Washington forts as well as in a large camp on the northern edge of DC known as Camp Barker (Johnston 1993). Although military documents have not yet been uncovered that verify the presence of contraband at Fort Ward, there are diaries, including one written by a Fairfax Seminary Hospital nurse, Jane Stuart Woolsey, noting in Hospital Days Reminiscence of a Civil War Nurse, how she looked out upon the “contrabands” surrounding the area with their “poor little huts hung upon the edges of the camp and were scattered over the fields all the way to the city.” And there were letters and journals, including one from a Union soldier writing in “Life in the Union Army” about his observations about Cassius Lee’s “odious” distaste for the soldiers passing by his farm… “when they were at work upon this fortress, called Fort Ward…” He also mentions “he, his farm and Negroes.” Abolitionist Harriet Jacobs also wrote in September 5, 1862 The Liberator of the “Life Among the Contrabands,” at the convalescent hospital. Even poet Walt Whitman in  Specimen Days wrote of his visit to the Seminary Hospital and described the scene there.

The story of the creation of The Fort community that has been traditionally embraced by historians studying the area is that the community was not created until several years after the end of the Civil War. These historians argue that the community began in 1879 when Burr and Harriet Shorts first purchased property in the area of Fort Ward. Some historians have suggested that this land was available for purchase by the Shorts and later, by other members of The Fort community, because the property was in dispute as a result of the 1872 Hooe v. Hoof court case between two Dutch merchants living in Alexandria. Another explanation is that the families rented or leased land until they were able to secure the funds to purchase when the land became available. 

In addition, the peripheral location of the Fort Ward to Alexandria may have contributed to its availability to the founding members of The Fort community. Fort Ward is approximately 3 miles from the center of Alexandria and was outside of the Alexandria city limits until the mid-20^th century. The peripheral location to the Alexandria’s city center and to nearby Washington, DC may have made the land surrounding Fort Ward less desirable to white settlement because businesses would not have been located in The Fort area during the late 19^th century. Although the families maintained small farms, the hilly, clay-filled land was also not conducive to large scale planting which is why there were no huge plantations in the immediate vicinity. In addition, the impact of the construction and occupation of a fort would likely have had negative impacts on the land, making it a less desirable area for settlement.

In addition, the pattern of independent African American communities being created on the edge of the city can be seen throughout the Washington, DC area. In fact, beginning in the 1860s and expanding in the 1880s the majority of African Americans either settled on the periphery of the City or in alley dwellings (Johnston 1993). The communities located on the periphery of the city often took the form of semi-rural, suburban neighborhoods which relied on one primary source of employment. For The Fort community, The Seminary and Episcopal High School served as the primary source of employment for The Fort community. 

How can archaeology be used to help verify each of these explanations of the origins of the The Fort community? In order to answer this question, we must first discuss the archaeology research that has been conducted at Fort Ward and the limitations of archaeological research. 

Several archaeological investigations have been conducted in Fort Ward Park. Most recently archaeological excavations were conducted in 2010, 2011, and 2012. The artifacts from the 2012 excavations are still being processed by Alexandria Archaeology and therefore only a limited amount of data is available at this time (Fesler 2012). In addition, archaeological information is restricted to the excavations conducted within the boundaries of Fort Ward Park. Therefore, if early settlements of the The Fort community were outside of the modern day park they may not ever be identified. 

However, the archaeology of Fort Ward Park can be used to help identify the origins of The Fort community. The plan to do so is as follows. First, the artifacts collected during the 2010, 2011, and 2012 excavations will be examined to see if any of them pre-date the original 1879 purchase of property by the Shorts family in order to determine if The Fort community members were already living on the property prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and the construction of the fort. The context of these early artifacts will have to be established in order to identify if these early artifacts are associated with the military occupation of the site, an associated contraband settlement, or an early domestic occupation, possibly slave quarters.

To see if these artifacts can be associated with a contraband settlement, they will be compared to the pattern established by archaeologists Stephen McBride and Kim McBride (2011) at Camp Nelson and the Home for Colored Refugees in Kentucky. Although, in a different region, the extensive archaeological research conducted here allows for meaningful comparisons. Some of the patterns suggested by McBride and McBride (2011) include few animal bones within contraband trash because of a reliance on the military provided rations and reworked metal objects from bullets and other associated military items.

Likewise, the spatial organization of The Fort community will help determine if there are any structures on the property that predate the construction of Fort Ward or if housing was constructed contraband during the course of the war. The locations of such buildings, either in front of or behind the fort lines, will help determine their use and time of construction.  Buildings that predated the construction of the fort would most likely only been allowed to remain standing if they were behind the fort lines, otherwise they would obstruct sight and firing lines. Buildings constructed during the war, would have been built behind the protective fort and those built after the war, could be built on either side of the fort or even on top of the earthworks themselves.

In addition, immediately after the war and the decommission of Fort Ward, the fort itself would have provided supplies, likely unintentionally, for the creation of the community. Johnston (1993: 165) describes how some freemen in the Washington, DC area “fashion(ed) ‘shanties’ from timber and cloth scavenged from former army camps and building sites.” 

Although these origin stories may seem in conflict with each other, it is also possible that each one plays a part in the creation of The Fort community.  In actuality The Fort appears to be a community composed of members who arrived at different times, some of whom may have lived in the area prior to the Civil War and others who arrived during later migrations. Throughout it’s nearly 100 year occupation, The Fort grew, attracting new residents who both bought and rented homes in the area. They donated and supplies land for a school as early as 1898 which was replaced in 1926 by a larger school, one funded by Sears & Roebuck President Julius Rosenwald, that existed until the late 1950s. That school is now the site of the famous Alexandria T.C. Williams High School, of “Remember the Titans” movie fame. The self-sufficient community also establish churches, Episcopal as well as Baptist, whose congregations are still thriving today.  In recent years, through the dedication of descendants, community volunteers and city leaders and employees, the goal of restoring the Fort families’ history through signage and literature, finding lost graves and African American structures and resources have been helped immensely through the efforts of archeologists and historians to show that the community is “still here.” The next step and ultimate challenge for these professionals and experts, however; is to solve the haunting mystery of which Fort Ward origin story actually answers the question, “where did we come from?”    

Carver Nursery School Petition

We, the undersigned, support the City of Alexandria's acquisition of the Carver Nursery School at 224 N. Fayette St.  As no private buyer has been found under the current process, the city is the buyer of last resort and has a duty to step in, with the sole purpose of saving the building from demolition.  Whether the city owns it for a short time and is able to resell it, or partners with a non-profit organization to adaptively reuse the building, the city will have the unique ability to leverage outside funding sources to offset the cost of acquisition.  As city and private efforts to find outside funding continue, there is an opportunity to fully fund and adaptively reuse this building for an appropriate public or private use in the community, and share its story with a wider public. The city would be able to place the appropriate historic preservation easements on the property, therefore protecting it for perpetuity. Once the threat of demolition has been removed, an adaptive reuse plan for the building can be completed. The Carver Nursery School is an opportunity to save a historically significant building, be a catalyst for the neighborhood, have a positive economic impact, and be a new stop for heritage tourists visiting Alexandria.  We also pledge our continued involvement in the project.

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