Arlington Historical Society Presents

During the Civil War, thousands of slaves made their way to Washington, D.C. As the city became overcrowded, the federal government created camps on abandoned secessionist lands in northern Virginia. There "contrabands" were paid to farm crops for the Union army and given access to education -- an important step in the transition from bondage to freedom.

"The Good Gray Poet" Walt Whitman first came to Washington, D.C. in 1862 after the battle of Fredericksburg during the Civil War. He spent the rest of the war serving convalescing soldiers in the city's many military hospitals and remained in Washington until 1873, working as a Federal clerk. This decade was a formative period of the poet's career during which he gained international attention.

Over the past several decades, Arlington's Columbia Pike corridor has grown into one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the nation, which makes it a fascinating subject for study. But how do you capture the essence of a community? It's a big question and one that Lloyd Wolf and his collaborators on the Columbia Pike Documentary Project has been trying to answer since 2007.

Luis Araya immigrated to Arlington, Virginia from Bolivia in 1966, when very few Latinos lived in the county. He reflects on the changes he has seen over the years and the influence of Latinos in Arlington today.

By the time she was 23, Arlington's Joan Mulholland had participated in more than fifty sit-ins and protests. She was a Freedom Rider, a participant in the near riotous Jackson, Mississippi Woolworth Sit-in, and helped plan and organize the March on Washington in 1963. On a local level, she was part of the first Arlington sit-ins, which integrated lunch counters across northern Virginia.