On January 23, 2021, the Alexandria City Council issued the ALL Alexandria resolution acknowledging Alexandria’s horrific history; recognizing the need and importance of community involvement to identify, develop and implement policies in the pursuit of equitable outcomes; and resolving to adopt practices and policies centered on creating and ensuring racial and social equity.

Below are annotations from the resolution provided by the Race and Social Equity Office for additional information, further explanation, and educational purposes. These resources are intended to help you further your experience, and we hope it will be helpful on your journey to learning more about race and social equity. The goal is to increase knowledge and understanding and engage people as we begin our racial equity journey as a community. Visit alexandria.gov/Equity for more information about the ALL Alexandria race and equity commitment.

NOTE: Some of the content included may be emotionally and intellectually challenging. As we work toward addressing race and equity in Alexandria, we will be exposed to difficult, honest and uncomfortable information. However, our intention is to create a space where we can all engage bravely, thoughtfully and empathetically in conversations around race.

• Franklin and Armfield Office – "The Franklin and Armfield Slave Pen at 1315 Duke Street was one of the largest slave trading companies in the country and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places."

• The Story of Race (video) – "How did the idea of race begin in America? The answer can be found in the long and complex history of Western Europe and the United States. It is that history – influenced by science, government and culture – that has shaped our ideas about race."
• The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross : an unprecedented journey through African Americans history (video) – "Explore with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed-forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds."
• The Making of Asian America: A History (audiobook) – "In the past fifty years, Asian Americans have helped change the face of America and are now the fastest growing group in the United States. The audio book tells the little-known history of Asian Americans and their role in American life, from the arrival of the first Asians in the Americas to the present-day."
• Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America – Video OR Book

• What is Systemic Racism? (video) – "Rinku Sen President of Race Forward and Publisher of ColorLines introduces the 'What Is Systemic Racism?'"
• Systemic racism – ALL Alexandria Race and Social Equity Definitions
• Four Levels of Racism

• John Smith Map – "This map of colonial Virginia, attributed to Captain John Smith, one of the first English settlers, contains extraordinary geographic detail as well as the locations of Indian settlements."

• We Have a Story to Tell: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region – "The Native peoples of the Chesapeake Bay region were among the first in the Western Hemisphere to encounter European explorers and colonists. Their stories, however, have usually been told by others, and usually only when their history helps to shed light on the birth and early development of the English colonies and the United States."
• An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (book) – "The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples. Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land."

• Map of Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom – "A modern map shows the locations of various Indian groups in Tidewater Virginia that in 1607 constituted the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. "

• The "Indian Problem" (video) – "As American power and population grew in the 19th century, the United States gradually rejected the main principle of treaty-making—that tribes were self-governing nations—and initiated policies that undermined tribal sovereignty. For Indian nations, these policies resulted in broken treaties, vast land loss, removal and relocation, population decline, and cultural decimation."

• History of Alexandria's African American Community – "Alexandria's African American history includes a vibrant free black population dating to the 18th century, one of the largest slave trading operations, and America's first Sit-Down Strike in the early days of the Civil Rights movement."

• A Brief History of Jim Crow – "Jim Crow laws were based on the theory of white supremacy and were a reaction to Reconstruction."
• History of Jim Crow – "This special explores the deep-seated racism behind images that reflected Jim Crow - black face, Aunt Jemima, and many others."

• Lynchings in Alexandria (presentation)

• In Memoriam: Joseph McCoy April 23, 1897 – "The murder of Joseph McCoy is recognized as a terrible chapter in Alexandria’s past. To fight injustice and to keep the memory of Alexandria’s lynching victims alive, you are invited to participate in the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project."

• In Memoriam: Benjamin Thomas August 8, 1899 – "Around midnight on August 8,1899, a 16-year-old African American teenager named Benjamin Thomas was lynched in Alexandria, Virginia. A white terror mob comprised of Alexandria citizens attacked the city jail on St. Asaph Street, and Benjamin Thomas was dragged half a mile to the southwest corner of King and Fairfax streets, opposite Market Square."

• 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In – "One of America's first sit-ins took place at Alexandria Library on August 21, 1939."
• The Memorial Pool – "African Americans in Alexandria suffered along with others of their race when a segregated system prevented them from enjoying recreation facilities in their hometown."
• A school cook's forgotten civil rights stand (Alexandria Times)

• Brown v. Board and the Desegregation of Alexandria City Public Schools – "2019 marked the 65th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, in which the court unanimously ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional."
• Brown v. Board: 60 Years On – The Action that Took 14 Years to Complete – "On a damp gray morning at 8:15 a.m. on February 10, 1959, three African-American children who had previously been bussed across town each morning to attend all-black Lyles-Crouch walked into the all-white William Ramsay School. Their actions were the start of a long slow process to desegregate Alexandria City Public Schools that took another 14 years to complete."
• Parker-Gray School: 100 Years Old – "On the morning of Sept. 8, 1920, Parker-Gray Elementary School opened its doors. It would later become the first high school in Alexandria to educate African American children and has left an indelible mark on our city. "
• History of the Parker-Gray Schools – "Parker-Gray School opened in 1920 teaching grades 1 thru 8. In 1936 it graduated its first high school class."
• Carver Nursery School/Post 129 – "This modest, wood-frame building has played an important role in the segregated history of Alexandria."

• Implicit Bias Module Series (video) – Learn about implicit bias
• Implicit Bias in Action (video)
• Project Implicit

• The Color of Law – Online Alexandria Library search results
• Segregated by Design – "Examine the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy."

• The Color of Law – Online Alexandria Library search results
• Segregated by Design – "Examine the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy."
• The Disturbing History of the Suburbs – "Redlining: the racist housing policy from the Jim Crow era that still affects us today."

• 10 Alarming Examples of Environmental Racism in the U.S.
• Environmental Racism is a Health Issue–How Experts are Addressing It

• Explained: Racial Wealth Gap – "In partnership with Vox Media Studios and Vox, this enlightening explainer series will take viewers deep inside a wide range of culturally relevant topics, questions, and ideas."
• Nine Charts About Wealth Inequality in America
• A Tax Code Optimized for White Wealth Leaves Black Americans Behind

• Structural Racism is a Driver of Health Disparities, Report Declares
• How False Beliefs in Physical Racial Difference Still Live in Medicine Today

• Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America – Video or Book
• Racism has shaped public transit, and it's riddled with inequities
• America's Unfair Rules of the Road
• How Transportation Planners Can Advance Racial Equity and Environmental Justice
• How Cities are Making Equity a Priority in the New Mobility Space

• Slavery to Mass Incarceration – "The myth of racial difference created to sustain American slavery persists today. Slavery did not end in 1865, it evolved."
• Report to the United Nations on Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System

• Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity – Civic Engagement
• Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community
• Equitable and Inclusive Civic Engagement: A Guide to Transformative Change

• Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity – Opportunity Mapping

• What is systemic racism? – Video series
• The 1619 Project from the New York Times – Read the article OR Listen to the podcast
• Next time someone says racism isn't real, show them this 3-minute video

• City of Alexandria Demographics
• ACPS Fast Facts

Oppression – ALL Alexandria Race and Social Equity Definitions

Authors Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi on how to become aware of privilege

• Intersectionality – "Now more than ever, it's important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term 'intersectionality' to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both."

• Ten things to know about gender equality

• Emmanuel Acho: Being Anti-Racist Means Calling Out Racism Wherever You See It
• The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist | Ibram X. Kendi

• Business Case for Racial Equity

• Latino Americans Timeline
• The Brutal History of Anti-Latino Discrimination in America

• Why We Must Talk About the Asian American Story, Too
• Asian Americans Then and Now