Celebrate Black History Month In Alexandria With Activities

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Visit Alexandria will be hosting a series of virtual and physically distanced events celebrating Black history in February. Beginning Feb. 1, explore the Office of Historic Alexandria’s virtual resources to learn more about Alexandria’s Black history from an Encore MLK Program and a Story Time for Young Historians to a lecture examining Black public relations expert Moss Kendrix and his work.

Explore new tours and markers and discover the African American changemakers who have shaped the history of Alexandria and the U.S.

Engage in the eight-site driving tour called Courageous Journey: Alexandria's Black History Driving Tour, created in the fall of 2020, to explore the African American history that shaped Alexandria and the United States, from D.C.’s onetime southern cornerstone laid by Benjamin Banneker to the site of one of the nation’s earliest sit-ins and more.

Discover Alexandria’s extensive African American history through curated heritage tours presented by Manumission Tour Company, including their new Underground Railroad-themed route, which launched in November 2020.

Check out Wrought, Knit, Labors, Legacies: Olalekan Jeyifous’ public art installation Wrought, Knit, Labors, Legacies, linking the city’s mercantile and industrial history with the labor of free and enslaved African Americans, can now be found at its temporary new home in Parker-Gray, a neighborhood rich in Black history, at 1609 Cameron Street.

Pull up a StoryMap on your phone as walk the self-guided African American Waterfront Trail, launched in fall 2020, highlighting the people, places and neighborhoods from the time of Alexandria’s founding through the 20th century. The new southern route of this trail will launch in summer 2021.

Look out for the Office of Historic Alexandria’s new online video series about African American changemakers called Agents of Change and anticipate the reopening of Freedom House Museum in the summer of 2021, featuring a major traveling exhibition.