ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Alexandria Library is hosting a first-of-its-kind event Saturday with a goal of bringing neighborhoods together to help fill gaps in the documented history of Alexandria's African American community.
The library's "Black Family Reunion" will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library.
Rose Dawson, the library's executive director said the library's collection has a huge hole when it comes to documentation of African Americans and their contributions to Alexandria.
“I have things from George Washington, I have letters signed by Robert E Lee, but the hole that is currently in the collection is the fact that I didn’t have a lot of African American history,” Dawson said.
So far, the library has collected over 700 photos from residents' donations.
"My great grandfather had fought in the Civil War so I did have an original charcoal drawing of him,” Alexandria native Jason Wood said.
The drawing dates back to the 1800s. It's been in Wood’s family all this time. Wood also recalled learning about his grandfather and how he was the first black man to drive a car in Alexandria – history that’s only been told amongst his family…until now.
"He drove for Mr. Dangerfield who was the first bank president in Alexandria," Wood said. "Mr. Dangerfield bought a Packard for him to drive because Rolls Royce did not want a black person driving one of their vehicles."
The library is hoping to learn more about its African American residents. It’s encouraging African American families in Alexandria to bring pictures and documents that will be added to the library’s local history special collections archive.
“The concern is that as the older baby boomers are dying off that their children don’t realize the true value of those photographs and those photo albums that their parents had and as people look to downsize that they’re throwing priceless information and history away," Dawson said. "The best way to do that and to preserve that and keep that history is to have it in a public library."
Char McCargo Bah serves as a co-chair for the library and has been a genealogist for 42 years.
"I am a native Alexandrian and I do know personally from interviewing many families here how many older members die their children end up discarding the pictures," said McCargo Bah.
Library staff will scan the documents and pictures they receive and eventually they will be available in an online catalog.
"When you look back you can see the intelligence, the wherewithal and the drive that so many African Americans did have, and still do have, in order to get us to this place where we are today,” Wood said.
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