In 2019, City Council established the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project and directed a volunteer steering committee to lead it. The committee is headed by the Office of Historic Alexandria and includes department heads, faith leaders, citizen groups, and residents. 

ACRP’s first Steering Committee was chaired by Gretchen Bulova, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria and Audrey Davis, Director of the African American History Division, other members included: Rose Dawson, Executive Director of Alexandria Library; Rev. Quardricos Driskell and Linda Howard of Beulah Baptist Church; President of Alexandria Chapter of the NAACP Christopher Harris; Director of the Office of Human Rights, Jean Kelleher; Michael Johnson, Outreach Alexandria Department of Recreation; Rev. Marc Lavarin, Alfred Street Baptist Church; Maddy McCoy, Director Slavery Inventory Database; Chair of the Northern Virginia Urban League Diane McLaughlin; McArthur Myers, Independent Historian; Cheryl Robinson, Cultural Competency Coordinator Alexandria City Public Schools; Rabbi David Spinrad, Beth El Hebrew Congregation.

Initially, ACRP was closely aligned with the Equal Justice Initiative's Remembrance Project that educates people about lynchings in their localities. Alexandria was asked to research and educate the community about the lynchings of Joseph McCoy in 1897 and Benjamin Thomas in 1899. EJI encouraged student involvement in an essay contest, the erection of historic markers for McCoy and Thomas, a soil collection ceremony, and a pilgrimage to their National Memorial for Peace and Justice. In response, the steering committee set up a research committee, a soil and marker committee, an education committee, and a pilgrimage committee. Volunteers met throughout the pandemic and after to follow up on the work. 

Below you will find multiple committees. All participants were/are volunteers who give their time and share their talents with the wider Alexandria community. Some of the committees have been engaged since 2019, but others have become dormant and/or await activation. ACRP welcomes new members and encourages participation in one or more of the committees. 

Meeting information can be found below. Contact acrp@alexandriava.gov with any questions.

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Initially, ACRP was closely aligned with the Equal Justice Initiative’s national Remembrance Project. We were told by EJI representatives to expect to complete the work in about three years. In that time, community remembrance projects were expected to research the history and families of the two known lynching victims, educate the public about this history, work with EJI to erect historic markers made by EJI, hold an essay contest for high school students, collect soil from the lynching sites that would be displayed at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, and make a pilgrimage to see it and the Legacy Museum. At the conclusion of the work, community projects expected to retrieve replicas of the pillars that hang at the Memorial for Peace and Justice. 

Since 2019, Alexandria has established our community project, created a web site to provide information on the initiative, published a monthly newsletter, held programs and events to help our community understand Alexandria’s history of racial injustices, researched the lynchings of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas, installed Office of Historic Alexandria historic markers at the lynching sites, held citywide ceremonies with official acknowledgements and apologies for the lynchings, located descendants of both men and entered into relationships with them on their terms, collected soil from sites that represented both men and their communities, raised up the names of the men who tried to save Benjamin Thomas’ life and recognized the agency and protest of the local Black community, took 50 students and teachers and 165 Alexandrians on a pilgrimage to Montgomery, Alabama where we delivered the soil of McCoy and Thomas to the Equal Justice Initiative, facilitated EJI’s essay contest at Alexandria City High School, recognized ACHS students for their work on this project, established a Remembrance Student Club, produced a documentary film to memorialize the stories of McCoy and Thomas so they are never forgotten, established two memorial scholarships in the names of McCoy and Thomas, and continue to dig up more information about past injustices in Alexandria. Each month, the ACRP newsletter furthers research into this city’s shared past that helps us better understand our present community.

EJI has not yet released the replica pillars to any community project. And while that may have been the original goal, we continue to repair and restore our city by revealing the past and speaking the truth about our shared history. We hold programs to encourage honest reflection of our past to better understand our present so that we can create a culture of belonging and a stronger Alexandria. 

Steering Committee Members

• Gretchen Bulova, Director, Office of Historic Alexandria, Co-Chair
• Audrey Davis, Director of Alexandria's African American History Division, Co-Chair
• Tiffany Pache, ACRP Project Coordinator

• Dr. Emerald Christopher, Race and Social Equity Officer
• Rose Dawson, Alexandria Library
• Rev. Professor Quardricos Driskell, Pastor Beulah Baptist Church
• Mark Farkas, Alexandria Citizen
• Darrlynn Franklin, NAACP
• Rev. Josette L. Franklin, Roberts Memorial United Methodist Church
• Paul Glist, Alexandria Citizen
• Rev. Dr. Taft Quincey Heatley, Shiloh Baptist Church
• Michael Johnson, Community Outreach Alexandria
• Jean Kelleher, Alexandria Citizen
• Nigel Mease, Historic Alexandria Resources Commission
• McArthur Myers, Alexandria Citizen
• Heather Peeler, ACT for Alexandria
• Jacquay Plummer, Charles Houston Recreation
• RaAlim Shabazz, History Teacher ACHS, Leads Remembrance Students
• Rabbi David Spinrad, Beth El Hebrew Congregation
• Judith Vaughn, Urban League of Northern Virginia
• Sarah Whelan, Social Studies Instructional Specialist at Alexandria City Public Schools
• Kennetra Wood, Equity and Diversity at Alexandria City Public Schools
• Rev. Kim Young, Director of Community Engagement for Washington Street United Methodist Church