Black Lives Next Door in Fairfax

James A. Quander was an African American landholder who lived from the mid-1800s to around the early 1930s. This exhibit will assemble a brief bibliography concerning James A. Quander's life by looking into primary sources found within the Fairfax County Historical Archives. This exhibit is an entry into the Black Lives Next Door initiative at George Mason University, sponsored by the Center for Masons Legacies.

Tracing the record of black land ownership is difficult so utilizing documents found in the Fairfax County Historical Archives was necessary to better understand what was going on in the life of James A. Quander. Starting with the 1894 Mount Vernon District “Table of Tracts of Land for the Year 1894” the name James A. Quander can be found. The Historical Archives provided the Grantor and Grantee Index to Deeds which was a key point of reference when formulating a record of James A.’s history as there were seven transactions found in this record where his name was listed. This record also included where the deeds were located within the archives which provided additional context into each transaction. This is also key as there are no birth, death or marriage records with the name James A. Quander present in the archives. In addition to this it is important to note that the Quander family is one of the oldest documented African American families. The Quander family also was very large and included many relatives with the same name, due to this only documents where James A. Quander is mentioned with their full name can be used confidently to manufacture an accurate narrative of James A. Quander's life.