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Subject of Research
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The Home of Dorothy and Edward Leslie Hamm Sr.
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Story
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Edward Leslie Hamm, Sr. (1917-2013) and his wife, Dorothy Bigelow Hamm (1919-2004) were longtime residents of Hall’s Hill, dedicated to seeing the advancement of their local community and the African American community at large through their professional and personal lives (Hamm 2019; Jones 2018:73).
For 15 years the Hamms have been involved in just about every phase of the civil rights struggle in Arlington, not to mention the fact that they as much as anyone are responsible for the neighborhood conservation program…Determined to change their neighborhood as well as the world, they joined everything, lent their time and effort and money to any project. The NAACP, Mount Salvation Church, the Arlington Council on Human Rights, Norther Virginia Fair Housing, Hurelco (a land development company that is color blind), the County Advisory Committee on Health and Welfare, the County Neighborhood Conservation Committee, the League of Women Voters, the John M. Langston Citizens Association (she is outgoing president), and many more. (Buchard 1969)
Edward Hamm was an architect who apprenticed with architect Romulus Cornelius Archer, Jr., an African-American architect who opened a private practice in Washington, D.C. in 1921 and became the second licensed African American architect in the city in1926 (ACHPP 2016: 30; Maas et al. 2017: 69). Romulus Cornelius Archer, Jr. studied architecture through the International Correspondence School in Scranton, PA and finished his architectural studies at Columbia in 1913.
Hamm designed and constructed the residence located at 1900 N. Cameron Street “brick by brick and board by board, and Mrs. Hamm worked, first as a seamstress and then at Government jobs leading up to an administrative secretary in the Army Surgeon General’s office, to help put the materials, a pound of nails and a bag of mortar at a time. The building took five years” (Buchard 1969). Hamm graduated from the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in 1940 with a degree in Building Construction. From 1946 to 1960, Hamm worked as a Draftsman, Job Captain, Chief Draftsman, and Office Manager for R.C. Archer & Associates and Mills, Petticord & Mills, two private Washington, D.C. based architecture firms, before working with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). While with the GSA he was responsible for varying roles as an architect to include review, coordination, and construction management and design. Hamm was the Project Review Architect for the construction of the John F. Kennedy Cultural Center for the Performing Arts and Project Coordinator for the Federal Triangle Project. He also served as Acting Chief of the Architectural Section and the Office of Construction Management Coordinator on GSA Demonstration Projects which were designed to demonstrate environmental enhancement and energy conservation. Upon retirement in 1977, Hamm was Chief Architect and Energy Conservation Coordinator for the Professional Service Division (Hamm 2019; HDFH 2013; Maas et. al. 2017: 71).
In his local community, Hamm was the project architect for the renovation and expansion of the 1904 Calloway United Methodist Church (Calloway Church) at 5000 Lee Highway in 1979. The $235,000 renovation almost doubled the original square footage of the church and featured an open bell tower, an expanded choir loft, a front entrance vestibule, and educational classrooms (ACHPP 2016: 18). Hamm and his family were congregant members of Calloway Church. As an active community member, Hamm served the Arlington Neighborhood Conservation Committee, Board of Directors for the Arlington Interchurch Committee on Housing for Low Income Families, the Arlington Council on Human Relations; the Northern Virginia Fair Housing Association; the County Advisory Board on Health and Welfare; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for over 50 years (HDFH 2013; Maas et. al. 2017: 71; Bestebreurtje 2017:352-353, 361-365; Hamm 2019; Jones 2018:138).
Dorothy Hamm was also a prolific and active community member. She, along with members of the black and white communities, worked to integrate Arlington County schools (Maas et. al. 2017: 54). In 1956, she and her eldest son, Edward Leslie Hamm, Jr. joined a group of families in a civil suit to integrate the all-white Stratford Junior High (Stratford High) (Jones 2018:105); the suit was Clarissa S. Thompson et al. v. the County School Board of Arlington, 159 F. Supp. 567 (E.D. Va. 1957). Though the 1956 civil suit was unsuccessful, in 1958, by order of the U.S. District Court, Stratford Junior High became the first white public school in Virginia to desegregate. Desegregation was an arduous process and Dorothy Hamm was a participant in challenging the Pupil Placement Act, which was designed to delay school integration while giving the appearance of compliance (Virginia Changemakers n.d.). The Hamms were collectively involved in challenging Virginia’s poll tax in 1963. Later the same year Dorothy Hamm was arrested for her involvement in the public protest to desegregate Arlington theatres. The arrest did not deter her efforts as she remained politically and civically active serving as a delegate to Arlington County and state conventions in 1964, was appointed assistant registrar and also a chief election officer in the Woodlawn precinct in Arlington. Ms. Hamm also worked to establish a local chapter of the Congress on Racial Equality organized in Arlington and participated in the 1968 "Poor People's March on Washington" (Virginia Changemakers n.d.; Hamm 2019). She became the first recipient of the Arlington County Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service in 1982 and the Virginia House of Delegates honored her lifelong contributions in a joint resolution in 2002. Dorothy Hamm’s most recent, post mortem accolades include recognition by the Virginia Women’s Monument Commission “Voices from the Garden” project and honor for the historic role she played in integrating Stratford Junior High School. The newly renovated Stratford Junior High, a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-listed resource, Virginia Landmark and Arlington County Historic District, will reopen as the Dorothy Hamm Middle School beginning with the 2019-2020 school year (Jackson 2018).
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People
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Edward Leslie Hamm, Sr. and Dorothy Bigelow Hamm
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Place
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Hall's Hill Neighborhood
1900 North Cameron Street
Arlington, VA 22207
