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Community Corner

Local Black History Month exhibit a testament to perseverance

Loudoun's Black History Committee works hard to fill in the gaps in local history.

Louis Jett remembers his grandmother cutting articles and obituaries out of the newspaper - “anything having to do with black people” - and pasting it in her notebooks.

This memory inspired Jett, the secretary of Loudoun’s Black History Committee, to keep careful records of his own. In the 26 years that he did this, he created a collection of over a hundred five-inch-thick spiral-bound binders filled with clippings and notes. He began by alphabetizing and organizing his grandmother’s work, and added his own work.

From 2006 to 2010, Jett, the father of James Jett, former professional American football wide receiver and Olympic sprinter, provided the materials for the Black History Month exhibit at the Thomas Balch Library during the month of February.

“I want to show [black history] as it really is, because it’s not a pretty picture,” Jett said.

But in the summer of 2010, an arsonist set fire to Asbury Methodist Church in Hillsboro, where Jett had been temporarily storing all of his research. He lost everything, and there were no backup copies.

It was a hard blow for Jett and for the rest of the committee, who spend much of their time tracking down historic documentation and photos before it is lost or destroyed by a careless caretaker or the passage of time.

About five years ago, committee member Mary Randolph visited the former Loudoun County Training School on Union Street in Leesburg to inspect documents and photographs stored inside. This unaccredited school offered the only secondary education to black students before the opening of the Douglass High School in 1941. When she visited, she found all the documents in a state of disorder, many no longer legible because of the effects of age and dampness.

But despite setbacks, the committee gathers and produces more materials each year, determined to show the integral role of black history in Loudoun’s history.

This year’s exhibit features several books, fliers, and copies of artifacts and archival materials, some from the committee and some from the Thomas Balch Library. Randolph collected the books, which include “In the Watchfires”, a history of the Loudoun County Emancipation Assocation; the two volume series “The Essence of a People”, a collection of portraits of significant African-Americans in Loudoun; and “Billy Pierce: Dance Master, Son of Purcellville”, the story of a successful local dancer.

The fliers, provided by committee member Wynne Saffer, detail the history and mission of the committee, and provide a list of materials. Finally, Stephanie Adams Hunter, a library staffer, provided photocopies of library archival materials such as photographs, civil rights posters, and a runaway slave ad. The exhibit also features a knife and fork used by Uncle Davy Payne, whose wife and daughter were slaves belonging to the C. A. Johnston family of Leesburg. After the Civil War ended, Payne and his wife stayed with the Johnstons, while their daughter moved to D.C.

Library Director Alexandra Gressitt said the exhibit should remind Leesburg residents about the significance of the individual.

“History is very much alive, and sometimes in our hustle and bustle of living, we forget to stop and think about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going,” she said. “We can’t think about where we’re going until we’ve looked at where we are and where we’ve been. Anything we do in life is a consequence of the past. These exhibits provide us the opportunity to show how much individuals impact life.”

For more information about the exhibit and about the Black History Committee, call 703-737-2166 or visit www.balchfriends.org.

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