Site Guide

CATEGORIES FOR ORGANIZING CONTENT RESEARCH

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

People – includes anyone (no matter their ethnicity) who contributed to Black mobility as defined previously. 

Events — any planned/scheduled happening or spontaneous occurrences. 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. This includes common objects with ascribed value, like family photo albums and funeral programs, and treasured documents, like manumission papers.

BLACK MOBILITY EXAMINED THROUGH THE LENS OF:

THEME 1—Black Land Matters

  1. Black land/property ownership and the legacy of that property ownership passing to their progeny.
  2. The development of segregated neighborhoods for Black people and how these communities changed over time.
  3. Physical obstacles and codified restrictions that limited the expansion and mobility of Black individuals and communities.

THEME 2— Facilitation and Restriction of Black Movement

  1. The journey from enslavement to freedom in Arlington, VA.
  2. Investigate alterations to physical infrastructure and limitations to travel;  like building highways and ceasing public transportation.
  3. Discover 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.
Prev Next