fire station 8 Archives

June 1, 2022June 1, 2022

Announcing a New Children’s Picture Book!

Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8 is Available on Amazon.com

I’m excited to announce that my fourth self-published book, (and my first children’s picture book!) “Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8,” is NOW available on Amazon.com!

In 2019, I was working with Arlington Humanities and the Arlington Public Schools Career and Technical Education (CTE) program on the Cigar Box Project. One of the CTE teachers, Kris Martini, asked if I’d ever considered writing a children’s book with some of the stories from my book, “My Halls Hill Family: More Than a Neighborhood.” Well, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

This storybook is the first in a series of children’s picture books about Halls Hill, a formerly segregated neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia.

I knew I wanted to figure a way to dramatize the people, organizations, and institutions, in a way that would be fun to read but also teach a little bit about life in Arlington in the period covered in the My Halls Hill Family book. Most importantly, I wanted to develop the story in a way that little ones could understand.

The stories will be dramatizations of real people, organizations, and institutions from the period 1866 to 1966 when the neighborhood was walled in and discriminated against by the government and society due to institutional racism.

In the first book in the series, Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8, readers will be introduced to Langston School and Fire Station 8, which were both real places in the community. Captain Alfred Clark is an important character in the book, due to his heroism which was featured in the Washington Post. One of the teachers at the segregated Langston School who is highlighted in the book is Mrs. Evelyn Reed Syphax, who was married to Fire Station 8 Firefighter Archie Syphax. She was a leader in education in Arlington and became the first African American member of the Arlington School Board. Little Michael Jones and his friends, Lance Newman, and Ronnie Deskins are also in the book. They were three of the four children who desegregated schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1959.

There’s a field trip today
And Michael’s delighted
But it’s not the hook and ladder truck in the bay
That has him excited!
It’s a request that he asks of others all-day
Join him on the trip to Fire Station 8
And see if what he wants comes his way!

Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8 Book Trailer

Michael is excited about the field trip and through his excitement, he learns about the importance of representation.

CHECK OUT WILMA AT THE ARLINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY
ON THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2022 AT 6 PM

Check out the events page for other events – https://staging.hallshill.com/events/

September 20, 2020September 20, 2020

Iconic Arlington Educator: Mrs. Elizabeth Snyder Hill

Principal and Teacher at Langston School from 1922-1961

Mrs. Elizabeth Snyder Hill was an icon as a teacher at Langston. She began teaching on Halls Hill at the Sumner School in 1922, three years before the Langston School building opened. On Friday, May 19, 1961, she was honored by the Halls Hill community for her 39 years of dedicated service. This week I am going to share the program from that event, which is just one of the many items my mom, Idabel G. Jones saved from events in the Halls Hill community over the years.

You can see that Mr. James H. Brown was president of the Langston Elementary School Parent Teacher Association and my mom’s best friend, Mrs. Patience Spriggs (there is a typo on the cover) was the chairman of the event.

Mrs. Hill was a teacher for hundreds of Halls Hill children during her career, including both my parents and many of my siblings. And of course, Mrs. Hill was a graduate of an HBCU (Historically Black College and University), Howard University. She also received a Master’s Degree from New York University. The teachers at the segregated schools were excellent, and Mrs. Hill was one of the staff that set the standard, according to all the stories I have heard. She also was quite firm in the manner in which she managed her classes, and the school during the years she was principal.

Businesses that contributed toward the event as advertisers.

Mrs. Faggins and the members of the Crescent Club were all Halls Hill residents. You can see that Prestons’ Pharmacy was a supporter of Halls Hill almost 60 years ago. This page and the ones that follow show the community supporters and organizations that contributed toward the event and were obviously a big part of the Halls Hill community.

This page has the local eye doctor and Mr. Vance Green’s barber shop, which still stands, today it’s where Rick’s Tattoo Shop is located. Mr. Green lived on North 19th Road. The other advertiser is Rev. James E. Browne, Sr. who was an electrician, as well as the assistant pastor at Mount Salvation Baptist Church. Rev. Browne and his family lived next to Langston School on Culpeper street.

The people involved in the program are not well known from a community perspective except for Mr. James H. Brown speaking for the PTA. This Mr. James Brown, without the “e” lived with his family on 22nd street. And Mr. Alfred Clark, the captain of Fire Station 8 was also the president of the John M. Langston Citizens Association at that time.

The Langston School staff and the people responsible for the program.

OK, lots of familiar names here. There are some typos, like Mr. Gravitt, not Granitt. But I remember almost every person listed on this page. And one of them is my mom, Idabel Jones, the assistant dietician, working under Rev. Browne’s wife, Mrs. Hazel Browne. And rounding out the kitchen staff is Mrs. Eunice Carter. Rev. Browne took a pic of them after the finished the lunch shift one day outside the multipurpose room door of the school.

My mom, Mrs. Idabel G. Jones, Mrs. Eunice Carter, and Mrs. Hazel Browne. See Fire Station 8 in the background.

I don’t know who the “Two Physicians,” are but I am assuming it’s Drs. Harold Johnson and Oscar Ellison, Jr., the two Black doctors serving the Halls Hill and Falls Church areas. The Modern Beauty-Barber Shop was familiar to my family because Mrs. Adele Williams and her family were close friends of our family.

Chinn Funeral Home purchased a full page ad.

The Citizens Association and the Mount Salvation Baptist Church ads along with a beauty salon purchased ads for this important community event.

Calloway’s full page ad was the final page of the program.

Mrs. Hill was much loved by the Halls Hill community. I know my mom was truly touched by her influence as she saved this program in almost perfect condition since 1961 until her death in 2017. We discovered the program in her papers and I am so happy to share it with all of you today. I know there are many people who read the blog who may remember her.

My Halls Hill Family: More Than a Neighborhood

Click here ->>>> Amazon

January 30, 2019January 30, 2019

Celebrating 100 Years of Dedicated Service

halls hill watermelon carving fire station 8

Arlington County’s Fire Station 8 Honored at a Community Gala!

The John M. Langston Citizen’s Association honored the legacy of the 14 brave African-American men who came together in 1918 to start the Halls Hill Volunteer Fire Department. These men and the others who followed in their footsteps to staff what is now Fire Station 8 deserve our thanks and praise. This event was the community’s way of doing just that.

There is a documentary that will be released in the spring to preserve the history and stories. In the meantime, here are a few pics of the crowd.