'Stumbling Stones,' New Data Emerge From Enslaved In Arlington Project

ARLINGTON, VA — The Arlington Historical Society, in partnership with the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington, has been working for two years and is making progress on an ongoing project that aims to recover the history of the county’s enslaved population and to chronicle their lives.

The project, “Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington,” is working to bring African American experiences to light and confront the county’s long history of racism.

In May, the project unveiled the first edition of The Enslaved People of Arlington, Virginia: A Spreadsheet documenting the lives of more than 1,400 enslaved individuals in Arlington from 1669-1865.

The Arlington Historical Society and Black Heritage Museum of Arlington recently dedicated their first “stumbling stones” or bronze plaques honoring the lives of three people once enslaved at what is now the Ball-Seller’s House.

The Ball-Sellers House, the oldest house in Arlington, is owned and operated by the Arlington Historical Society, as a free museum. The three enslaved people who were honored are Nancy, who was born around 1775 and died sometime between 1835 and 1838; a male (name unknown), born around 1806 and whose date of death is unknown; and a male (name unknown), who born in 1844 and whose date of death is unknown.

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These three people were enslaved by the Carlin family, who bought the Ball-Sellers House from the estate of John Ball in 1772 and whose various family members lived there until 1887. Today, the house is owned and operated by the Arlington Historical Society.

A future goal of the “Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington” project is to physically mark the locations in the county where slavery occurred with plaques or “stumbling stones” like those at the Ball-Seller’s House that provide the names of the enslaved person and whenever possible, birth and death dates.

The Enslaved People of Arlington spreadsheet contains the data necessary for these markers. To provide historical context for collected data, “Slavery in Arlington, Virginia: A Timeline” has also been created, which highlights important laws concerning slavery, county jurisdictional changes, major historical events, and slavery-related statistics.

The Arlington Historical Society received a $5,000 grant from Virginia Humanities to be used exclusively for funding the “Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington” project.

As part of the project, the Arlington Historical Society and Black Heritage Museum of Arlington will work with Arlington Public Schools to teach students in middle and high schools about slavery in Arlington. The public is also invited to share family stories and history with the project coordinators, especially those with deep roots in Arlington.

For more information about the project, the public can contact Jessica Kaplan at the Arlington Historical Society at ahsedlink@gmail.com.

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