In 2015, we celebrated the 150th year anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Now, we are in the 150th year anniversary dates of the “Reconstruction Era”. The Reconstruction Era refers to the period in the United States history that immediately was instituted after the Civil War. This Era was a rebuilding of the Nation and a period of time that the federal government set conditions to include the rebellious Southern states back into the Union. But this also was a period of time for all African Americans to participate in their own destiny and to claim their rightful place among other citizens.
For the first time, all African Americans are recorded in Federal, State, and County records with first and last names. Since individual States and their people heard that the Civil War had ended at different times, one must note that certain Reconstruction records might not have started in those States until after 1865. Many scholars agree that the “Reconstruction Era” was from 1865 – 1877.
In celebrating the “Reconstruction Era” on this blog site, I will be posting many blogs that will have genealogy value. The blogs include research on African Americans in Alexandria during the Reconstruction Era.
Please visit my business web site at http://www.findingthingsforu.com for my upcoming lectures and workshops that will include “Reconstruction Era” type lectures. Thanks!
The authors of “African Americans of Alexandria, Virginia: Beacons of Light in the Twentieth Century” are having their first book signing on Saturday, July 20, 2013 at Community Open House event at the Alexandria Black History Museum located 902 Wythe Street, Alexandria, VA from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 pm. Books will be available for purchase. You can contact the Alexandria Black History Museum at 703-746-4356. Thanks!
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 (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.
In 2015, we celebrated the 150th year anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Now, we are in the 150th year anniversary dates of the “Reconstruction Era”. The Reconstruction Era refers to the period in the United States history that immediately was instituted after the Civil War. This Era was a rebuilding of the Nation and a period of time that the federal government set conditions to include the rebellious Southern states back into the Union. But this also was a period of time for all African Americans to participate in their own destiny and to claim their rightful place among other citizens.
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