Alexandria’s Black Family Reunion

The Alexandria Library Local History/Special Collections branch has a national reputation concerning Virginia history. Researchers not only use this collection when conducting genealogy and Civil War research, but over the years the staff have successfully collected documents that tell the story of the white citizens of this community. I mean, we have copies of letters from Robert E. Lee and George Washington’s Medical Dictionary. However, in July 2022, a former library board member contacted the director to share that when she visited the collection to do some research on Black Alexandrians, she was unsuccessful and left very disappointed. Sadly, the Library was very much aware that our Local History/Special Collections branch was lacking resources in this area as it relates to the African American history in Alexandria from the 1930s to the present. The Library realized the only way to collect some of that information was to convince the community to share their private documents.

On a personal note, the library director was working on her husband’s family reunion at the time. With both projects on her mind, she very excitedly reported to work the next day to announce that the Library was going to host a Black Family Reunion. Closing off the street in front of the building, having free food, music, and t-shirts, would show that the Library was family. Cost of attendance? A person merely needed to bring a photo or document to donate to the Library’s collection.

Residents were encouraged to bring family photographs, memorabilia, old letters, or other documents for the Library to scan and digitize. Hopefully, young family members would recognize the value of the “old papers” their parents and grandparents left in their care.

Participants that donated or shared family history received a ticket that they could redeem for a meal at one of the food trucks at the event.

The Library saw Alexandria’s Black Family Reunion as a way to build community and to acknowledge the African American experience in Alexandria. It was important that the Black community felt recognized and included when telling their story. There were many prominent and successful people from Alexandria’s historically Black neighborhoods, and this needed to be reflected in our collections. Especially since there continued to be a generational lack of trust with the Library because of a 1939 sit-in where five young African American men were arrested for trying to use the library. Not to mention the negative impact that gentrification has had on their stories.

The Library successfully found an anonymous donor to support this effort. The original proposal described the challenge and listed three objectives:

The proposal also included an evaluation tool that would be used to measure the program’s success. Not only would attendance be measured, but also the number of items scanned, types of material donated, level of media coverage, and anecdotal responses.

The library director recruited two honorary co-chairs from the African American community who grew up in those Black neighborhoods. Based on their reputations, these individuals played a critical role in persuading people to share their family documents. Not only did they provide quotes for the press release, but they were recorded telling their own stories, and these videos were shared on the Library’s website and YouTube channel. The Library then created a form that could be filled out either online or in person, giving us a participant’s contact information as well as a list of what was being donated and digitized. The form also included a waiver giving the Library permission to post and use the images. Participants received their items back if requested, along with a flash drive with their digitized images.

As a community engagement event, the Library invited other city agencies and nonprofits to host tables that highlighted their services to residents. The City Council issued a proclamation and, working with the city, the Library acquired all necessary permits for the event. There was a large tent set up on the street with a sitting area, food trucks providing refreshments, and programs and entertainment for all ages inside and outside the Library.

More than 400 people participated in this event on Saturday, April 29, 2023, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.  The Library received more than 4,000 donated items: everything from high school annuals to an 18^th-century family Bible, and even copies of manumission papers. The event was a huge success. With extensive media coverage and a story on the front page of the Washington Post Metro section above the fold, we were very pleased. But we knew we had arrived when several participants said, “And when you do it next year…”

Since that first event in 2023, the Library successfully held a second event in September 2024 and has received the necessary support to host a third event later this year.

–Rose Dawson, Executive Director, Alexandria Library