Black Lives Next Door in Fairfax

Thomas Harris passed away on September 5, 1943 at the age of 75 in Woodlawn, VA.[1] He is buried next to his first wife, Emma, at what was formerly the Woodlawn Methodist Church cemetery. The church has since relocated and the cemetery is now part of the Fort Belvoir army base beyond the entrance security checkpoint, where access is restricted.[2] His tombstone does not show his year of death completely, even in the picture taken as recent as 2006.[3] It is unclear why the death date on his tombstone does not show in complete and why it had been this way for decades.

Given the very few amount of sources and first-hand documents relating to him and lack of other sources that could be potential in explaining his circumstances, there are many more avenues of research to explore. There remain many research gaps and much about his life remains unclear or undocumented. For example, it is unclear if he was ever registered to vote, as there were no such voter registration records with his name to be found. Furthermore, it was said by the staff at the Fairfax County Circuit Court that retrieving the legal documents of Thomas Harris took a surprising less amount of time compared to retrieving those of other individuals (aka. it was relatively finding sources for my person compared to the other students) due to the apparent lack of records under his name. Much of his life remains unknown, even to the Fairfax Circuit Court. Goals for future research include researching what his motive was for owning land and any information regarding his later lands post 1919.

Research by: Calvin Lwin