Audrey Davis, the first director of the African American History Division in the Office of Historic Alexandria, is at the forefront of preserving and showcasing the city’s Black history.
Black History Month has brought music, historical discussions and exhibits, displays of student art and so much more to Alexandria this month, commemorating a vast history spanning hundreds of years, from the 18th century to the Civil Rights Movement and present day.
“Black history is part of America’s history and we should celebrate it 365 days a year. We have a wealth of opportunities here in Alexandria,” Davis told ALXnow in a recent podcast episode. “We’re very lucky. Our museums are free to our residents.”
Davis oversees three museums: the Alexandria Black History Museum, operating at the site of the historic, once-segregated Robert H. Robinson Library; its adjacent Watson Reading Room; and the Freedom House Museum, on the grounds of what was once one of the country’s largest slave trading companies. Today, the museum “seeks to reframe white supremacist history” across three floors of exhibits.
Freedom House Museum reopened in November, following exterior renovations to restore its pre-Civil War appearance. The first floor is focused on the domestic slave trade, but Davis said the museum “doesn’t only focus on the worst part of African American history.”
“On the second floor, it focuses on Black achievement when we look at our exhibit called ‘Determined in Alexandria,'” Davis said. “It looks at the people and places and churches that shaped Alexandria’s African American community.”
Up above, the third floor is home to a painting exhibit by the late artist Sherry Z. Sanabria depicting African American sites. It’s titled, “Before the Spirits are Swept Away.”
Davis’ division also oversees the Alexandria African American Heritage Park and Heritage Trail, as well as the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial, which she helped found in 2014, just north of the Capital Beltway in Alexandria.
Today, the memorial honors and remembers the lives of about 1,800 people buried there who had escaped enslavement during the Civil War era — but before it was founded, the space had been filled by a gas station and office. In this podcast episode recorded last week, Davis discusses her work on the memorial, as well as
- How to celebrate Black History Month in Alexandria
- Her background in history and preservation
- Ongoing projects at the Office of Historic Alexandria
Upcoming Black History Month events
- Ongoing through March 1: Martin Luther King, Jr. Poster Exhibition
- Saturday, Feb. 21: Black Life Through the Lens of Elrich Murphy
- Saturday, Feb. 21: Black History Poetry Slam & Open Mic
- Friday, Feb. 27: Black History Month Variety Show
- Saturday, Feb. 28: Manumission Tour Company’s Old Town Roots: 250 years of Resilience
- Saturday, Feb. 28: They Lived Here Too: Work & Slavery at Lee-Fendall
- Saturday, Feb. 28: Family Program at the Alexandria Black History Museum (Event and book signing for “Fight for the Right to Read: Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Sit-Down Strike for Library Reading Equality”)
