Tinner Hill

C-91

An early rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded here on Tinner Hill. In 1915, the Town of Falls Church proposed an ordinance to segregate black and white residential sections. Local African Americans formed the Colored Citizens Protective League and fought this ordinance. In 1918, the league became the Falls Church and Vicinity Branch of the NAACP. Meeting in members' homes around Tinner Hill, the branch focused on public education, voter registration, travel regulations, and equal access to public services. Strategies developed by the branch were effectively used in other localities throughout the Civil Rights era.

Department of Historic Resources, 2005

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Report of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for the Years 1917 and 1918, January 1919: 82-88; Tinner Hill Foundation, http://tinnerhill.org/main.php, 13 July 2005; E. B. Henderson (told to Edith Hussey), History of the Fairfax County Branch of the NAACP; "Tinner Hill - A National Treasure," 13 minute Virginia Historical Society Film; Ann L. Mercer, "Tinner Hill and Segregation Ordinance of 1915," (George Washington University, 2000); David K. Wiggins, “Edwin Bancroft Henderson: Physical Educator, Civil Rights Activist, And Chronicler of African American Athletes, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 70 (June 1999): 91-112.