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Saturday, July 5, 2008
Museum Exhibits
The Alexandria Black History Museum consists of two galleries offering visitors a chance to learn about Alexandrias past and present.
Parker-Gray Gallery
The Parker-Gray Gallery is the changing exhibition gallery. Traveling exhibitions and short-term local exhibitions are presented in this gallery, where the shows change every three to four months.
Robert Robinson Library
 From 1940-1960, The Robert Robinson Library was the place where most African Americans came to read and study.
The City of Alexandria integrated its library system in 1944, but most African Americans did not feel comfortable using the system. The Robert Robinson Library is now used as gallery space.
Exhibitions This gallery is in the oldest part of the building. Built in 1940, the Robert Robinson Library originally served as the library for Alexandrias African American citizens during segregation. Currently, the Robert Robinson Library is used as the Museums permanent exhibition gallery, and contains an exhibition on African American business in Alexandria.
Exhibitions are meant to provide historical background for the Alexandria Black History Museum as well as supplying a context for Alexandrias African American community. From The History of the Robert Robinson Library to Bonds to Alexandrias Black Public Education 1800-1865 and finally to The Early Free Black Neighborhoods in Alexandria, it is hoped that visitors leave with a better understanding of the forces that shaped Alexandria, Virginia.
Peaceful Library Sit-in 1939
 This photograph shows five young men, who in 1939 were arrested after staging a peaceful sit-in at the Queen Street Library (now named Barrett Library) after being denied library cards. Although the men were arrested, the charges against them were dropped.
The lawyer who defended the young men was Samuel Wilbert Tucker. His brother, Otto Tucker, was one of the five men arrested during the sit-in. Mr. Tucker was a famous civil rights lawyer who worked with attorney Oliver Hill in Richmond, Virginia.
Tucker and Hill, along with lawyer (and future Supreme Court Justice) Thurgood Marshall, were part of the legal team responsible for the landmark civil rights decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Alexandria Black History Museum | Watson Reading Room | African American Heritage Park
Museum Collections | Education Programs | History of Museum & Related Sites
Self-Guided Walking Tour | African American History Guide | Slave Market and Slave Jail
Alexandria's Black Public Education 1800-1965 | Alexandria's Early Free Black Neighborhoods
Freedmen's Cemetery | Oral History | Alexandria's Black Churches | Oral History
To Witness the Past | Civil War: Fighting for Freedom | Civil War: Black Soldiers of the Civil War
Volunteers for Freedom, Part 1 | Volunteers for Freedom, Part 2 | Directions and Fees
Participate and/or Volunteer | Alexandria Black History main page
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