Students in urban affairs and planning studio work with Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation to preserve African American history in Falls Church

Long time African-American residents of Falls Church gathered last week at a local community center to share memories, photographs, and documents at "Telling Our Story," an event cosponsored by the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, Virginia Tech's Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) program in the National Capital Region, and George Mason University as a way to share and preserve the rich history of the community.

Virginia Tech has a history of collaboration with the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation in Falls Church, the area that is also home to the Graduate School at the Northern Virginia Center. Elizabeth Morton, professor-in-practice, and students in the Urban Design Studio: Tinner Hill/Falls Church Audio Tour gathered at the James Lee Community Center to help scan photographs and documents, and audio record and videotape participants as they reminisced and told their stories. One interviewee, Hilda Hicks, shared stories of African American students' long bus rides from Falls Church to the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth, the only high school in northern Virginia they could attend in a segregated school system. She also told how her husband came to coach the first integrated baseball team when a white resident of Falls Church, a doctor, asked if his son could join the team.

The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation works to raise awareness of the contributions of African-Americans and other cultures to the development of Falls Church, Fairfax County, the United States, and African descendants in the diaspora by disseminating information and by providing community services. "Telling Our Story" was organized to further identify unsung heroes and their contributions to the community and the civil rights movement; preserve personal historical photos and documents; and uncover buildings and sites important to African-American history in the Falls Church community.

The latter is important to Morton and her students who are working on an audio walking tour of the area. This tour will add little known aspects of history to iconic sites like The Falls Church, bring to light some of the underappreciated economic and social contributions of African American families since before the Civil War, and provide contemporary perspectives on what makes the area significant today.

 "We are so happy that these residents have shared their memories since they provide stories that have not been fully explored in the official histories of Falls Church and Fairfax County. Their voices are critical to our understanding of the area and will really help bring history to life," said Morton.

Morton and Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation hope to launch the audio tour this summer. It will be available through both the Virginia Tech and Tinner Hill websites.

Posted March 31, 2011