The City of Alexandria unveiled a Virginia State Historic marker Saturday commemorating Colored Rosemont, a thriving African American neighborhood that existed from 1926 until it was dismantled in the mid-20th century through discriminatory housing policies.
The ceremony took place at the intersection of Wythe and West streets, near where the community once stood, bounded by Pendleton, Fayette, Madison, and N. West streets. Mayor Alyia Gaskins, descendants of former residents, and representatives from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources gathered for the dedication.
“We are here to celebrate and uplift the stories, the stories of so many Black Alexandrians who have shaped our history in our community,” Gaskins said. “Stories that have often been overlooked or unrepresented, but that are at the core of the city that we have today.”
The marker recognizes a community where professional men and women, families with children, and multiple generations built homes and created generational wealth during an era of segregation. Virginia F.W. Thomas, a white landowner, sold plots to Black Alexandrians in 1926, enabling homeownership when it was largely unavailable to African Americans elsewhere in the city.
Gretchen Bulova, director of the Office of Historic Alexandria, said the marker represents both celebration and acknowledgment of injustice.
“This day would not have been possible without the advocacy, leadership, and commitment of many, many people here today,” she said.
The initiative began with a phone call from Stanley Greene to former Mayor Justin Wilson several years ago. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved the marker before Wilson left office.
LaToya Gray-Sparks, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, noted that 54% of all new markers over the last 10 years have highlighted African American history.
“This figure rises to 66% when we look at the last five years, and the Colored Rosemont Historic Marker will add to that number,” she said.
Dr. Krystyn Moon, a professor at the University of Mary Washington who researched the community, emphasized that Alexandria’s history is fundamentally connected to Black history.
“From its very beginnings with the international slave trade to the civil rights movement after World War II, to the free communities, those vibrant communities prior to and during the Civil War, to our work today documenting, curating, preserving, and memorializing, they are central to it all,” she said.
Three descendants shared personal memories of growing up in Colored Rosemont. Veronica Greene Pace, known as Landa in the community, described the diversity within the neighborhood, from different faith traditions to varied foodways based on families’ migration routes from the South.
“Our communities have been routinely marginalized, dismissed, and erased,” Greene Pace said. “What cannot be conveyed by the marker today is the vibrant, solid community we were born into, raised in and thrived in.”
Sheila Cross Reid, whose great-grandparents, Robert and Daisy Cross, purchased homes in the community, explained how the neighborhood enabled generational wealth.
“Those home purchases, we were in the field of only African American communities with home ownership,” she said. “That enabled that particular community, our community, to be able to be one of the first communities to be able to deal with and establish generational wealth.”
Reid noted the challenges residents faced, including living in a segregated society where they could not access facilities in neighboring white Rosemont.
“We couldn’t go to Rosemont. We were not allowed to go over there,” she said. “We had no swimming pool. We couldn’t use their swimming pool.”
Deborah Turner, granddaughter of Parker and Pearl Waterson, described daily life in the community.
“Colored Rosemont was a caring community, rich in love, vibrant, alive, peaceful, safe,” she said. “A sense of connection belonging not just to my immediate family, but to the whole Colored Rosemont families.”
Turner recalled how neighbors supported each other and children played freely in the streets.
“We were living a good life until the city targeted our neighborhood to be uprooted, disrupted a great community,” she said.
The community included families with the surnames Adkins, Armstrong, Bass, Bates, Berry, Burke, Carter, Churchill, Cross, Dundas, Greene, Griffin, Hickman, Jackson, Johnson, Major, McCray, Morrison, Thompson, Tucker, Waterson, Watson, Worthy, and Young, among others.
Maria Edwards, a descendant of Fred and Ophelia Major, shared lessons learned from her grandparents.
“I observed my grandparents maintaining their independence while navigating through a world that wasn’t set up for them to win,” she said.
The ceremony included musical selections led by John Greene, who sang the national anthem and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which he learned from Mrs. Mary Fields during elementary school.
Gaskins connected the historical significance to current housing challenges, noting that the council heard from public housing residents that morning who described housing inequities.
“You have a council that, as we think about the transformative power of Colored Rosemont, this is a council that is also working forward towards a future where home ownership is not just a journey, but a reality for more families in our city,” she said.
The marker dedication represents the beginning of ongoing efforts to preserve and share the community’s history. The Office of Historic Alexandria continues collecting oral histories, photos and memorabilia to ensure the stories are taught and remembered.
More information about the Colored Rosemont Community History Initiative is available on the city’s website.
Audrey Davis, director of the Office of Historic Alexandria’s African American History Division, said the work will continue beyond the marker unveiling.
“None of this would have been possible without Stanley Greene’s resolute advocacy and the work of the Colored Rosemont Descendant Advisory Group,” Davis said. “Since 2022, city staff have collaborated with the advisory group on a Scope of Work outlining a permanent archival collection, the installation of this historic marker, and other public history resources. This dedication is only the beginning, as we continue to conduct and publish further research about Colored Rosemont and the displacement of its residents.”
