THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 23, 1995 TAG: 9510230059
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ARLINGTON LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
A village that was a refuge to more than 1,000 former slaves has received its due: a marker commemorating its history.
The federal government opened Freedman's Village in 1863 on part of what is now Arlington National Cemetery. It was one of the largest temporary settlements for freed slaves in the country - and one of the most famous because of its proximity to Washington.
Many former slaves at the settlement were sharecroppers who owned no land and who had lived in a tent city in Washington, at what is now the location of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The marker, installed by Arlington's Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board, bears a 24-line inscription describing why the village was established, how many former slaves lived there and when it was torn down.
``It means a lot to us blacks,'' said Evelyn Bolding, 69, of Washington, one of two dozen people at Saturday's ceremony. ``They will recognize and remember (that) blacks did live in this part of the country as free persons. It's part of our heritage.''
The families in Freedman's Village lived in 100 wooden duplex homes, neatly lined in the shape of a horseshoe, with as many as 20 people sharing one house.
The village closed in the early 1890s after becoming increasingly crowded. Contagious diseases such as dysentery and tuberculosis were common, killing an average of two people a day.
Orator Frederick Douglass, abolitionist Harriet Tubman and writer Sojourner Truth at one time visited or taught at the village, historians said. by CNB