How it began

In 1959, Mr. Leslie R. Coates and other Black farmers were still reeling from the effects of losing acres of land a year earlier, after the federal government seized it using the power of eminent domain to build the airport now known as Dulles. In addition to being a prominent landowner in his community, Mr. Coates was also well respected due to his family’s long-standing prominence in the Chantilly Baptist Church since the 1870s. On August 28, 1959, Mr. Coates, along with six other individuals, was summoned to serve as a grand juror on the Special Grand Jury of Inquest in the Fairfax County Court. On September 14, Coates and the rest of the grand jury arrived to hear evidence for 25 felony indictment cases ranging from larceny to murder,