By Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County supervisors on Feb. 7 honored staff, students, teachers and community members who were involved in the county’s Historical Marker Project.
The project, launched in February 2022 as part of the Black/African-American Experience Project, engaged students as historians to shine a light on the past by advocating for stories underrepresented in history books.
In February 2022, county officials encouraged students and youth groups to submit historical-marker proposals that highlighted African-American contributions to the community. The project generated six new historical markers throughout the county that will be installed over the next year.
Students, classes and scout troops submitted a total of 53 proposals for relevant people, groups and locations. A committee of appointees from board offices, community organizations and student representatives then reviewed the proposals and selected 14 finalists to be considered for historical markers.
Officials tasked four Fairfax County History Commission members to review the finalists for feasibility and historical accuracy and ensure there were no more than one marker per magisterial district. The committee chose six markers that met those criteria and the county will undertake the research-and-installation process for them over the next year.
These six markers commemorate:
• Louise Archer, an educator who supported numerous students over her time.
• Lillian Blackwell, who sued successfully to ban segregation of movie theaters and public schools.
• Annie Harper, who challenged the constitutionality of Virginia’s poll tax.
• Robert Gunnell, a freedman who conveyed land for Gunnell’s Chapel, a 19th-century African-American Methodist Church.
• Colin Powell, a longtime county resident, four-star general, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, founder of America’s Promise and the first African-American secretary of state. There is an elementary school named after him in Centreville.
• Dec. 20, 1856: The date recognizes 16 enslaved people named in an 1856 property inventory for the land on which West Springfield High School now stands.
The next step in the process will be working with staff and members of the History Commission to refine the markers’ language, work with a vendor to create the markers and plan installations in locations across the county.
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in July 2021 announced it was partnering with the Board of Supervisors to host the inaugural Fairfax County Black/African-American Historical Markers Project.
The initiative was a joint collaboration between the Board of Supervisors, FCPS, the History Commission and the county’s Neighborhood and Community Services agency.
