Authors of African Americans of Alexandria, Virginia Beacons of Light in the Twentieth Century

A new blog is available for the authors of a new book “African Americans of Alexandria, Virginia: Beacons of Light in the Twentieth Century.” Please visit their blog at http://www.changeagents818.wordpress.com. Click on the different sections About, Contact Us, and Calendar of Events. Do not forget to order the book and come back to the blog for a book discussion. If you want to invite the authors for a lecture and book signing, go to “Contact Us” on their Blog and send an e-mail. Thanks!

Carver Nursery School – William Thomas Post #129

The Carver Nursery School could be demolished as soon as the month of February if the community does not intervene. The school was constructed during World War II through an Act of Congress to fund nursery schools so that parents of children could work in the war effort. The Carver Nursery appears to be the only one built specifically for African Americans. The building consisted of two classrooms with a playground on site. The playground is now the Hunter-Miller Park. Located in the Parker-Gray Neighborhood, the school was in the heart of a thriving Black business area at Queen and Fayette Streets.

The school would later become the William Thomas Post#129 of the American Legion and was the social hub of the neighborhood.

Two and a half years ago, a local developer who then applied for a demolition permit purchased the property. The Parker-Gray Board of Architectural Review and the City Council approved the demolition. The developer has already built eleven houses in the neighborhood and recently put eight condominiums in a former laundry building nearby. The eight condominiums (condos) add character and blend in with the neighborhood. The demolition of the Carver School runs contrary to the purpose of the Parker-Gray Historic District.

Historical Facts:

The Parker-Gray Historic District was created in 1984 and one of its main purposes was to protect the area from development pressures that could arise from the building of the King Street and Braddock Metro Stations. The stations are within blocks of the Carver Nursery School. The plan in 1984 was to nominate the neighborhood for the National Register of Historic Places. In 2004, the City of Alexandria conducted a survey and at that time, the Carver Nursery School was one of many structures singled out as having contributed character to the neighborhood. The two Parker-Gray Schools had already been demolished. The threat of the demolition of Carver School is a test to the preservation of buildings that have played a part in the history of Black Alexandria. This building is the only known building of its type still existing and was listed on Preservation Virginia’s eleven most endangered properties list of 2010.

Saving Carver Nursery School Building:

There is only one option for saving the building and that is for the City of Alexandria to intervene. Ask the City to temporarily halt the demolition so that the community can have a voice and suggest some alternatives. To help, please e-mail City Council at www3.alexandriava.gov/contactus/mailto.php?id=610.

You can also contact Boyd Walker from the Greater Alexandria Preservation Alliance at Boydwalker2012@gmail.com to get a copy of the petition that is now circulating, and help gather signatures.  Time is running out, so please help us tell the whole story of the Parker-Gray Neighborhood.

Boyd Walker is a community activist who started the Greater Alexandria Preservation Alliance five years ago, to be an advocacy organization for Historic Preservation in Alexandria.  The purpose of the Alliance is to work beyond Alexandria’s borders with state and local partners and to make Alexandria a greater place.  He is a native of Alexandria who grew up on the “Southside.”  He was a co-founder of Citizens for an Alternative Alexandria Waterfront Plan, now known as Friends of the Alexandria Waterfront and a recent candidate for Alexandria City Council.

Mr. Lawrence P. Robinson

Mr. Lawrence (Robbie) P. Robinson migrated to Alexandria in 1968 from Centreville, Virginia. He demitted his membership from the Bull Run Lodge #698 and joined the Alexandria Elks Lodge #48. Robbie had been a member in Bull Run Lodge #698 since 1953. He also became a member of the Alexandria Universal Lodge #1 Free and Accepted Prince Hall Masons as well as a member of the Alexandria Departmental Progressive Club Inc., a private African American club.

Robbie, as his friends fondly called him, immediately advanced through the ranks of these organizations to leadership roles. He implemented educational programs through their Education Departments, and he led several oratorical contest contestants. In each of those organizations, he was elected to the highest level of leadership.

He provided his photography skills to these organizations. Robbie documented the history of those organizations through pictures. His forty-year plus span of photography, he has taken thousands and thousands of pictures of the organizations that he belonged to in Alexandria.

Robbie was born as Lawrence P. Robinson in Centreville, VA in April 1930. He graduated from the Manassas Regional Industrial High School in 1947. His family dates back to James (Gentleman Jim) Robinson, who was born in 1799 as a slave. His master freed Gentleman Jim and he was listed in 1825 as a freed black man. Robbie came from a proud family with a long prospectus history in Prince William and Fairfax, Virginia.

Prior to Mr. Robinson’s migration to Alexandria, Virginia, he was a racecar driver, building his own racecars and engines, winning almost 500 first place trophies. He won the National Hot Rod Association East Coast Championship in E Gas Class (highly modified engines in 1967). He continued for a couple of years competing at racetracks from New York to North Carolina.

He worked for the Federal government at Cameron Station and at the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, VA prior to his retirement with 50 years of services.

Alexandria’s African American history has been made richer by the dedicated work of Robbie given to the City of Alexandria. He was a member of the first Advisory Board for Charles Houston Recreation Center. Other City boards, Committees or Commissions on which he served were: Alexandria Hospital Finance Committee, Alexandria Health Services Corporation at the Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria Chapter of the American Red Cross, Alexandria Residential Youth Service Board, Alexandria Olympic Boys & Girls Club, Alexandria Young Men’s Christian Association, the Alexandria Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where he was elected to serve as the Chairman, Alexandria United Way Allocations Review Panel, Alexandria Forum and Alexandria Concerned Black Citizens. He served on the board of directors of Project Discovery-Alexandria for six years and he is still an honorary member of the board. He continues to be a member of the City of Alexandria Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Planning Committee. He has served for 38 years.

In 2009, Robbie and his wife, Van moved to Prince William County in their new retirement home. At the age of 82 years old, Robbie still comes back to Alexandria and provides his time for the organizations and the City of Alexandria.

John Henry Haskins

Hackley, Russell – born August 30, 1900
Hain, James – born August 1891
Haley, Edward – born September 15, 1891
Haley, John – born March 25, 1888
Hall, Bernard John – born November 23, 1899
Hall, George – born August 15, 1885
Hall, James Robert – born April 11, 1876
Hall, Richard Edward – born April 1900
Hamilton, Alfred Smith – born October 10, 1885
Hamm, James Henry – born February 23, 1892
Hammersley, Chancellor E – born April 8, 1893
Hammond, Leon F. – born February 5, 1890
Handy, Edward – born October 13, 1898
Hargrove, Calvin – born March 20, 1885
Harris, Aaron – born December 31, 1888
Harris, Albert – birth unknown
Harris, Alfred – born July 18, 1898
Harris, Charlie – born January 10, 1885
Harris, Edgar – born 1877
Harris, Jesse – born March 13, 1894
Harris, John – born September 10, 1881
Harris, John – born March 2, 1890
Harris, John Sidney – born September 13, 1897
Harris, Joseph Milford – born May 24, 1877
Harris, Louis – born April 12, 1896
Harris, Marshall – born July 4, 1892
Harris, Milton – born 1875
Harris, Robert – born March 20, 1884
Harris, Robert Andrew – born November 23, 1894
Harris, Walter – born March 12, 1874
Harris, William Andrew – born November 4, 1882
Haskins, John Henry – born February 8, 1878
Hauls, Courtney – born June 9, 1888
Hauls, Joseph – born January 2, 1898
Hawkins, Augustine – born March 25, 1881
Hawkins, Thomas – born October 28, 1896
Hayes, John Walton – born October 15, 1883
Hayes, Mack Noble – born December 25, 1898
Henning, Howard H. – born July 4, 1874
Henry, Edwin E. – born October 7, 1885
Henry, Thomas L. – born June 17, 1891
Henry, William Benjamin – born August 17, 1873
Hester, Odell – born July 5, 1897
Hicks, Henry – born December 15, 1877
Hicks, Irvine Thomas – born September 26, 1892
Hill, Charles – born November 1899
Hill, David B. – born August 15, 188
Hill, Edmund Jr. – born August 15, 1873
Hill, Frederick W. – born March 30, 1895
Hill, George Gibson – born September 15, 1899
Hill, James – born August 20, 1889
Hill, John H. – born 1892
Hill, Oscar – born December 25, 1881
Hill, Robert – born April 12, 1877
Hill, Thomas – born April 2, 1895
Hines, Isaac Howard – born January 1, 1873
Hines, John H. – born January 16, 1873
Hines, Nathaniel – born August 21, 1889
Hodge, Henry Thomas – born March 3, 1900
Holland, James Henry – born January 1, 1877
Hollin, Lee – born March 17, 1898
Hollinger, William Henry – born July 15, 1875
Hollins, Ellis – born December 28, 1882
Holly, Robert – born February 29, 1880
Holmes, Arthur Richard – born July 4, 1885
Holmes, Claude – born September 28, 1898
Holmes, Herbert Alexandria – born May 29, 1896
Holmes, James – born 1888
Holmes, Jesse Vernon – born August 13, 1881
Holmes, Sterling – born January 1, 1885
Holmes, William – born February 14, 1900
Holt, Harry M. – born May 20, 1884
Hopkins, James – born November 15, 1880
Hopkins, James Byron – born October 25, 1880
Hopkins, John L. – born April 29, 1881
Howard, Alexander – born May 23, 1880
Howard, Courtland – born January 10, 1896
Howard, Ezkile – born December 17, 1882
Howard, Frederick – born May 18, 1888
Howard, James – born February 11, 1893
Howard, James – born 1875
Howell, Joseph – born March 10, 1878
Hughes, John Thomas – born July 28, 1884
Huitt, William Tate – born August 31, 1883
Humes, Junies – born August 5, 1897
Hunter, Charles – born October 4, 1894
Hunter, Clarence – born December 25, 1898
Hunter, Robert – born July 2, 1895
Hyman, Frank – born 1889
Hyman, Isaiah – born July 1, 1896
Hyson, Richard – born June 25, 1874