J. Lance Mallamo, Director
Office of Historic Alexandria
Lloyd House
220 N. Washington Street
Alexandria, VA. 22314
November 9, 2013
Dear Mr. Mallamo/ Lance,
This is In response to your unexpected and troubling announcement of October 31, 2013 that there will be a public presentation on November 16, 2013 of a “draft report” on the history of the African American community and the descendants of the Ft. Ward “The Fort”. We, those descendants, are asking that this premature news conference be postponed and the inappropriate venue of Lloyd House, which once housed enslaved people, be changed until the leadership of the African American Descendants Society and the Seminary Civic Association are properly briefed and given an opportunity to review the unauthorized document before it is released to the press and the general public, in accordance with past agreements and practices between these primary stakeholders and the City of Alexandria, primarily the Office of Historic Alexandria.
Here is another example of how bad things continue to be done “to us” and not “with us” or “for us” for more than a half century at “The Fort.” The city confiscated our land; the city refuses to locate ALL of the lost graves in the park as it proceeds with a future management plan; the city fails to stop the storm water runoff that continues to compromise our ancestors’ church cemetery, and the final insult comes as the city has broken its verbal and written covenant to work in partnership with Fort Ward descendants to “tell our story,” not theirs.
In March 2009, you said to the audience, which included many of the descendant family members, at TC Williams H.S., “History is about people. This is your story.” You made similar comments during the “We’re Still Here” program the descendants held in the park in 2012. Apparently, you either misspoke or misrepresented yourself. With the surprise release of this so-called “draft report” about Ft. Ward’s African American history, we have lost this opportunity to set the record straight through no fault of our own. By the way, we question the used of the term “draft” because generally drafts are not released to the public. Once this “draft” gets out, how does it get amended? Will there be a subsequent amendment or legitimate “final” report? We have not been advised of this process either regarding “our history.”
It is our understanding that no one will be allowed to view the report before it is released; also, that we have to reserve a seat 24 hours in advance to be able to attend the presentation about “our story.” We feel this is the ultimate dismissal and disrespect of our community and of all the work that we have voluntarily provided to the city about our community which is now been turned over to outside consultants to do with what they will. This is unethical and unfair.
We should have front row reserved seats at the presentation of a “final” report about our community, as any other community would have been treated. However, we were not given the common courtesy of either appropriate notice or right of review about this document that we were unaware was being written and, worse, which we have had no input or review opportunities. Not a single representative of the descendants or Seminary community was contacted during or after the “authorship” of what is an unauthorized report which must contain information we, its subjects, have volunteered to the city without due credit or compensation.
As a matter of fact, your office had also disregarded and apparently dismissed academic papers produced by Fort Ward descendant Adrienne Terrell Washington and University of Maryland graduate student Mary Furlong regarding the historical and archeological findings about our history which were publicly presented in England and in the District of Columbia noted here with similar title and content prior to the “draft report” that is being presented this month and there may be issues of duplication and “authorship” that need to be addressed to prevent plagiarism.
Those reports are as follows: First, is the article we wrote for the SfAA newsletter and the DC Historical Studies Conference 2012. It was called Coming together to Uncover The Fort. http://sfaanews.sfaa.net/2012/02/01/coming-together-to-uncover-the-fort-in-alexandria-virginia/.
Second, is the paper we wrote for the SHA in Leicester, England. It was called 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. https://www.conftool.com/sha2013/index.php?page=browseSessions&search=furlong.
There is not a single mention of the descendants or the Fort Ward History Work Group’s initial and critical input for more than four years in the press release language which reads: “The recently completed draft report was prepared in support of the Fort Ward Park Management Plan, now being developed by Lardner Klein Associates and the Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Stakeholders Advisory Group. Authored by University of Mary Washington Professor Krystyn Moon, Finding The Fort: A History of an African American Neighborhood in Northern Virginia, 1860s - 1960s, the research project narrative discusses the early history of the area in and around Fort Ward Park, but focuses primarily on the heritage of African Americans in the Seminary area of Alexandria, from the Civil War period through the founding of the park.”
Ms. Moon’s research, and the way she has conducted it, ignores discussions we had with her at one of the Fort Ward History Work Group Meetings. On June 25, 2010 at a meeting I attended with Pam Cressey, Tom Bodor, Audrey Davis, Louis Hicks, Jim Walpole, Elizabeth Drembus, Frances Terrell, Kristin Moon, as well as others, I specifically said, “We want to document our story. We don’t want others telling us what our story is”. We want to see what records there are and what is accurate. We want a working collaboration with the city”. No one at that meeting disagreed with that idea. In fact, during future meetings the then-Chairman of the Fort Ward Park & Museum Advisory Group said to me and other attendees, “It is your story”.
Ms. Moon has not contacted the descendant family members to discuss this report, if nothing more, to confirm the information, some of which we provided, as a matter of course and academic practice. This is an unconscionable and unacceptable blatant disregard of our contributions and the role that you agreed we would play in this aspect of Fort Ward’s research and planning.
More importantly, is the issue of the spirit of partnership and trust which we feel has been broken without cause, without knowledge and with an unacceptable sense of paternalism which is intolerable and which we have tried to fight and avoid all these years we have been working in concert with the city to “tell our story.” We have repeatedly said publicly that we did not want anyone outside the community telling our story to us; we were adamant about telling our own. We have said in the past, that “the city took our land, we will not allow them to take our history” and create the narrative that suits its purposes; not ours.
For example, as recently as two weeks ago, following a status report on the management plan presented by the consultants to the Ad Hoc Advisory group, descendant Frances Colbert Terrell sent a communication to Laura Dunham asking when the consultants would be contacting us. She once again reiterated that “Adrienne and I would, of course, want to tell our own story.” To date, she has not received an answer.
Therefore, we again strongly request that this disrespectful error in the making be postponed and the venue changed as soon as possible until you are able to honor your words, your agreement and the partnership we thought we had by allowing us to review this “draft” before it is released to everyone else who is not directly affected.
Sincerely,
Adrienne
Adrienne Terrell Washington, President
Fort Ward & Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc.
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