Community Histories
CML's community projects harness digital platforms and online interpretation to give the public more access to knowledge traditionally walled off in archives and academic settings. Our respectful community approach stresses learning from Black communities to learn about them, supplementing scholarly analyses and archival documents with local history-keepers' sharing of photographs, documents and artifacts and family stories long cherished in private hands. Digital methods and platforms let us welcome lay practitioners into the research process and amplify their voices, broadening the community of contributors beyond "canonical" boundaries.
100 Years Black Falls Church
Since it gained township status in 1875, the town of Falls Church has maintained a deeply rooted African American history. 100 Years of Black Falls Church provides access to primary source materials relating to the African American community of Falls Church, Virginia and is complimented by a sidewalk virtual tour of African American homes, churches and landmarks.
Fairfax County: A History of Housing Inequality, Exclusion, and Erasure
The history of our region’s modern suburbia rests on post-Civil War foundations on which a century of federal, state, and county policies laid the groundwork for systemic housing exclusion and segregation.
Northern Virginia AAPI Community Stories
A repository of items compiled by members of the Northern Virginia AAPI communities showcasing their family histories and heirlooms, celebrations, and cultural events.
Shiloh Baptist Church: A Cultural Center for the Black Communities of Mason Neck
Established in 1878, the Shiloh Baptist Church has remained a consistent cultural central point for the black communities present in the Mason Neck Area. As the church continues to operate in the present day; a vast wealth of history is contained within the institution, revealing a rare glimpse into the daily lives of black church members starting from the Reconstruction era of American history.
Thomas Balch Library Collections
Since 1907, the Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg, Va., has been collecting and preserving print, manuscript, photographic, cartographic and genealogical documentation of Loudoun County and Northern Virginia, also serving as a designated Underground Railroad Research Site. The library's ongoing partnership with CML seeks to widen the audience for these invaluable primary sources by making more of them individually available online.