Black Neighbourhood Destroyed For The Pentagon

To make way for the ultimate symbol of American imperial influence – the Pentagon – an all-Black neighbourhood was demolished in Virginia, in 1942: Queen City.

Queen City’s history is linked to that of Virginia’s Arlington House, built by enslaved labourers between 1802 and 1818. Nearly 100 enslaved Africans worked the fields of the 1,000-plus acre estate. Then, at the beginning of the US Civil War in 1861, the US army seized the land. In 1864, Union soldiers began burying their dead there and the US government purchased the property and designated it the Arlington National Cemetery.

Two years earlier, in 1862, the District of Columbia Congress had passed legislation to free enslaved people. This led to the founding of Freedman’s Village on part of the estate. With a population that was over 70% Black, its population grew from around 100 people to several thousand, becoming home to formerly enslaved Africans who learnt to read and write, started businesses and acquired properties. That’s until the village was dismantled in 1900 by the federal government as the estate became more and more desirable for development.

The residents of Queen City were descendants of Freedman’s population who formed a new community in East Arlington. Our slides explain how their homes were also taken from them.