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CATEGORIES FOR ORGANIZING CONTENT RESEARCH

Places — physical locations, geographic boundaries, and third places of occurrences. Examples include pharmacies, neighborhood communities, beauty salons, barber shops, etc.

People – includes anyone (no matter their ethnicity) who contributed to Black mobility as defined previously. “People” refers to well or lesser-known individuals having an impact on Black mobility.

Events — any planned/scheduled happening or a spontaneous occurrence. “Events” may be public, private, civil, contentious, famous, ordinary, and involve action. Events include celebrations that preserve memories, community demonstrations, and legislation restricting movement, etc.

Things — include objects, images, and/or visual collateral that identify, express, or document Black mobility. “Things” encompass common objects with ascribed value, like family photo albums and funeral programs, and treasured documents, like manumission papers.

THEMES—BLACK MOBILITY EXAMINED THROUGH THE LENS OF:

The following information is also presented in a database found on Google Sheets at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FxlEQm-iNgUUK3PWft_cXFt2ouqmzEpgwclZO75BY0A/edit#gid=0

THEME 1—Black property ownership (or the lack/restriction thereof) in Arlington:

  1. Black land/property ownership and the legacy of that property ownership passing to their progeny.
  2. The legacy of those who were once considered property being able to own property. The path from object/chattel to being considered human; the process of decolonizing self and society.
  3. The history and legacy of Black neighborhoods in Arlington.
  4. Systemic and codified restrictions related to Black land ownership and to establishing Black communities.

THEME 2— Strategies to Restrict Black Movement and Black Responses that Support Safe Mobility 

  1. Uncover something unique about Arlington’s enslaved population’s transition from enslavement to freedom.
  2. Investigate alterations and limitations of travel; the results of building highways and ceasing public transportation for Black mobility in Arlington.
  3. Reveal something unique about the physical and ephemeral tools Black people used to facilitate their movement in and around Arlington.

THEME 3— Ancestry/genealogy reports of and by Black Arlingtonians:

  1. Family tree as mobility 
    1. Present the genealogy records and research—in their various forms—performed by Black Arlingtonians.
    2. Extend an invitation to work with interested and willing Black families in Arlington to research and document their genealogy. 
  2. Marriage as mobility—speaks to the deliberate move by Black people to create and rebuild the Black family and community, especially in response to the near decimation that enslavement wrought upon the Black family.
  3. Death as mobility—acknowledging the "transition" or metaphorical movement from one existence to the next.

THEME 4— Relevant Federal and Virginia State laws/ordinances that affect Black Mobility, without origins in Arlington.

A. Taxation of Negroes book by Snavely

B. Re-Enslavement Petitions

C. Restrictive Covenants

D. Dissolution of Freedmen's Bank

USEFUL SEARCH TERMS (“CONTROLLED VOCABULARIES”)TO LOCATE MEANINGFUL STORIES OF BLACK MOBILITY IN ARLINGTON:

  • Africa
  • Alexandria
  • AME Church
  • Arlington
  • Black
  • Black-owned
  • Confederacy/Confederate
  • DC
  • Emancipation
  • Enslavement/ Slave
  • Free Colored
  • Freedman
  • KKK
  • Manumission
  • Mobility
  • Negro
  • Union
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