From Enslavement to Justice: How African Americans Forced Change in Alexandria
Your free guide to the From Enslavement to Justice walking tour — twenty-one first-person historical voices, read aloud at the very graves where history unfolded. African American history is not a footnote to Alexandria’s story; it is the story.
A History Buried in Plain Sight
Within a single square mile in Alexandria lies a landscape holding more than 35,000 stories — and among them, the untold stories of African Americans who endured enslavement, fought for freedom, served in uniform, built institutions, and ultimately forced this city to change. These are people who shaped history without receiving credit for it — and this tour restores their voices.
Commissioned by the Old Presbyterian Meeting House’s Dismantling Racism Team in 2026, the tour was built from court records, pension files, family papers, and archaeological reports — original research by public historian David Heiby. Many of these individuals had never been written about before.
Voices of the Tour
Twenty-one original voices span enslavement, military service, education, civil rights, and injustice. Among them:
…along with Revolutionary veterans Joseph Harris and John Pipsico, fifer Tobias Trout, Sgt. Alfred Whiting of the 54th Massachusetts, teachers and civic builders, and Mount Vernon’s first African American female guide, Gladys Quander Tancil.
Among the Cemeteries Visited
- Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery
- Methodist Protestant Cemetery
- Presbyterian Cemetery
- Trinity Methodist Cemetery
- Union Cemetery
- Alexandria National Cemetery
Explore more of this history on the African American Heritage interactive map.
The Tour at a Glance
Location
Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex
1475–1501 Wilkes St, Alexandria, VA
Format
21 first-person voices — laminated cards read aloud at each gravesite
Approximately 90 minutes
Groups
Public tours up to 25 participants
Private groups by arrangement
Their Voices, Restored
A community that endured, resisted, and transformed a city — finally told in the voices of those who lived it.