Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March for Social Justice, Unity, & Racial Healing

Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March for Social Justice, Unity, & Racial Healing

Location

Tinner Hill
510 S. Washington Street (Lee Highway)
Falls Church Virginia 22046
Virginia US
Monday, January 21, 2019 - 12:00pm to 3:30pm

The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation and the Social Justice Committee of Falls Church and Vicinity will hold it’s 3rd annual Martin Luther King Day March on January 21st in the City of Falls Church, Virginia. The march will be followed by a program at the historic Falls Church Episcopal Church at 166 E. Broad Street in Falls Church.

The march will begin at the Tinner Hill Civil Rights Monument at the corner of Lee Highway and Tinner Hill Road. The march will proceed due East along Lee Hwy (officially S. Washington St. in Falls Church City), and go approximately 3 ½ blocks to The Falls Church Episcopal on E. Fairfax Street.

The march will take place along Lee Highway where land belonging to African Americans was taken by eminent domain to create a highway to honor the Commander of the Confederate Army, General Robert E. Lee. We wish to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the national holiday in his honor, but we won’t be allowed to walk on the street/highway honoring Robert E. Lee. Marchers will be allowed to walk along this route on the Northern side of the sidewalk for the 3 blocks to the Falls Church Episcopal. Students from the Geroge Mason High School's Black Student Alliance will make signs that will recognize those African American families whose land was taken by eminent domain so that we may honor them.

The commemoration program will take place in The Falls Church Episcopal Main Sanctuary, where there will be songs and tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Social Justice Committee of Falls Church has organized an engaging program for those who participate in this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration program.

The Tinner Hill area in Falls Church has been recognized as the location where the first rural branch of the National Association for the Protection of Colored People (NAACP) in the United States was initiated. In 1915, The Falls Church Town Council proposed an ordinance that would have forced many African American property owners to sell their property to Whites and move to a section of town designated “For Colored Only”. This was unacceptable to the African American Community, who immediately mobilized and formed the Colored Citizens Protective League (CCPL), writing letters to each Council member, community churches and businesses asking where they stood on the proposed ordinance. The CCPL also wrote a letter to W. E. B. DuBois of the NAACP asking to form a branch of the newly founded organization who main purpose was to stop these kinds of actions which took place all too often during the Jim Crow era. The town council would not vote on the ordinance, but instead scheduled a referendum vote on the issue for citizens to decide the issue. After the ordinances passage, the CCPL challenged the decision in Fairfax County Circuit Court. The judge decided he would not rule on the issue, because a case (Warley vs Buchannan) was coming before the U.S. Supreme Court in the upcoming session. The ruling of the Supreme Court decreed that creating segregated districts within any municipality was unconstitutional, which made the ordinance in Falls Church unenforceable. Which meant a victory for the Colored Citizens Protective League, as well.

In 1918, the NAACP changed their by-laws which allowed smaller communities to form branches of the organization. The Colored Citizens Protective League received their charter in June, 1918. 2018 was the 100th anniversary of the Fairfax County Branch of the NAACP. The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation is proud to champion the legacy of social justice and civil rights in Falls Church, by making sure we don't forget what happened here over 100 years ago.

Please join us as we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and those here in Falls Church who put their lives and livlihoods on the line to establish the first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the United States.

 

Contact Information
Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, Inc.