“They Have Erected a Neat Little Church:" A Special History Study of the Rural African American Experience, 1865–1900, in the National Capital Area
Wallace EB. 2021. “They Have Erected a Neat Little Church:" A Special History Study of the Rural African American Experience, 1865–1900, in the National Capital Area. NPS Special History Study. National Park Service & Organization of American Historians. Washington, DC
This study focuses on the experiences of rural African Americans in the counties surrounding the District of Columbia—parts of Maryland, northern Virginia, and eastern West Virginia within the boundaries of the NPS NCA—during the tumultuous decades following the Civil War through the year 1900. The study begins with region-wide historical survey and then presents four detailed case studies to represent communities in or adjoining three national parks: Manassas National Battlefield, Antietam National Battlefield, and Prince William Forest Park. The purpose of each case study is to identify resources in and near parks that can help tell stories of the civil rights struggles and unique experiences of rural African Americans. While some resources may be physical objects, sites, or buildings still extant, many more are intangible personal experiences—stories told by documentary, written, or oral records. The study begins, in the Introduction, with a brief background of the enslaved and free African American populations within the region before and during the Civil War through emancipation, and the impact of the federal city of Washington at the region’s center. Chapters One and Two move the reader through the period of Reconstruction (Chapter One) and the post-Reconstruction decades that followed (Chapter Two). Both chapters outline the political and social upheavals of these two periods in American history as they unfolded nationally, and more specifically, in the former Confederate state of Virginia and in the Union states of Maryland and West Virginia. A brief discussion of the District of Columbia is also included for national and regional context. Chapter Three details the structure of African American communities that developed in the region, and identifies the cultural institutions and lifeways that provided support, common purpose, advancement, and entertainment through the residents’ daily lives. The chapter includes descriptive examples of community types and institutional buildings (churches, schools, lodges) from sites throughout the study area. Examples are given for the kinds of lifeways that can be documented from various sources, including dwelling types, kinship and family structures, occupations, civil engagement, and justice issues. Detailed case studies of rural African American communities are provided in Chapters Four (Virginia) and Five (Maryland). Chapter Four covers the Batestown/Hickory Ridge and Manassas-area communities in Prince William County, Virginia. Chapter Five includes the Maryland communities of Sharpsburg and Red Hill in Washington County. The study concludes with a brief look at the impacts of twentieth-century events on rural African Americans in the region and provides recommendations for further research.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Wallace, Edith
- Date of Issue
- 2021
- Publisher
- National Park Service & Organization of American Historians
- Units
- ANCM , ANTI , CATO , CHOH , GWMP , HAFE , MANA , MONO , NACE , NAMA , NCR , NCRO , PRWI , ROCR
- Keywords
- African American, African American history, agriculture, benevolent societies, Black, Black history, churches, citizenship, civic engagement, Civil War, education, emancipation, enslavement, farming, historic resource study, history, households, iron works, justice, lynching, mining, mutual aid, Reconstruction, religion, rural communities, schools, segregation, slavery, violence, voting