In January 1915, Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson called a meeting of local African-American families who lived on or around Tinner Hill to outsmart and outflank the white rulers of this rural area. Over the next 50 years, Joesph Tinner and Henderson organized civil rights activities that set a precedent for the rural South. The Hendersons, Tinners, and other brave local citizens of the Tinner Hill area risked their lives and livelihoods to defend the principles of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Beyond fighting against the segregation ordinance, they helped foster a movement that has had far-reaching consequences.

Today, we all reap the benefits of this almost forgotten battle. Up to the eighth generation of these families still live on Tinner Hill. The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation has two, close-in-proximity properties that, remarkably, survive from the post-Civil War period. Both properties are intimately tied to the history of Falls Church and to the struggles of African Americans to attain their rights and freedoms, from the period of Jim Crow through the Civil Rights Movement.

The existence of the two properties presents the City of Falls Church and, in fact, the state and the nation, with a rare opportunity a) to preserve vernacular places not grand in stature but immensely important in the evolution of this freedom-based democracy, b) to acknowledge the importance of these places by making their presence central to the City’s development projects.

African Americans have made numerous significant contributions to Virginia’s history. Many people do not realize that the actions of African Americans living and working in Northern Virginia have greatly influenced the course of history in America. The struggle of African Americans for equal rights and civic equality has been persistent, paving the way for social justice for women, LGBTQ+ individuals, the elderly, the disabled, and many other groups in America. Many are unaware that the civil rights struggle began long before the 1960s and that the efforts of African Americans shaped the political, social, and economic fabric of this nation.