Black Old Town

March 13th, 2014 begins our 7th Metro Journey. Another short one, but the places were spread out.

 Our first stop was the Torpedo Factory.  According to the Torpedo Factory website, this art center is the highlight of Alexandria's Potomac River waterfront, attracting approximately 500,000 visitors a year. You can visit 82  artists' studios, six galleries, two workshops, and the Alexandria Archaeology Museum inside of the Torpedo Factory.  You can sign up for an art class with The Art League School. The Torpedo Factory Art Center houses more than 165 visual artists with a variety of medias including painting, ceramics, photography, jewelry, stained glass, fiber, printmaking, and sculpture.

Green Mark XIV Torpedo on display at The Torpedo Factory

On November 12, 1918, the U.S. Navy began constructing a torpedo factory in Alexandria, named the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station. Over the next five years it was responsible for the manufacture and maintenance of torpedoes and also served as a munitions storage area until World War II. As the demand for weapons dramatically increased during the war it resumed production activity and the factory was substantially expanded with ten new buildings. A green Mark XIV torpedo was manufactured in the factory in 1945, which is still on display.

While at the Torpedo Factory, we stopped to interview an artist in residence.  Her name is Poppi.  A self-taught artist for more than 22 years, she was inspired by her grandmother who used to sew and do pottery.  Health problems did not stop her from becoming an artist.  "If you really have a passion for art, this is what you do in your spare time.  I still do like to go to the movies and go to the park, but I really enjoy doing my art," said Poppi.

Here is an example of Poppi's art work.

The Alexandria Waterfront is truly as beautiful as this original oil painting by Paul McGehee.
The painting is titled Waterfront by Moonlight

 We visited the famous Alexandria Waterfront.  I had been here many times before with my family, but this was the first time on an academic journey.

 

Chipotle, Chipotle, I told you I was coming back.  I really did miss you, but your chips are a little crunchier and not as salty. You need to fix that! But, besides that lunch was good.

 

A lot of brown rice, black beans, no meat, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, and last but not least, lettuce. That completes my deliciousness.

 

Our next stop was the Freedom House, where we looked for the connections between the film 12 Years  A Slave and the historic site of the ironically named Freedom House.

But now on a more serious note, the connection was  the horrifying  story of a free Black man Solomon Northrup who was abducted  from his home in New York in 1841 and sold into slavery.  The film 12 Years a Slave is connected to the Freedom House, a slave site that is still standing today near the Nation’s Capital. I didn't know every time I went to my grandmother’s house that I was passing "the epicenter of the domestic slave trade." The last slave trader at the site of the Freedom House, James H. Birch, was the same dealer who paid kidnappers $250 for Solomon Northrup (pictured) of Sara-toga Springs, N.Y., and sold him into slavery in Louisiana!

 It was difficult to stand in the doorway where many of my enslaved ancestors had passed through.  “What’s very unique about this building is it’s one of the few remaining buildings that the slave trade actually took place in,” said curator Julian Kiganda, who designed the exhibits. “Everyone who’s come through there, they feel moved." Northup’s story is among several narratives illustrating the slave trade at the time. Exhibits in the brick basement that once served as slave quarters include artifacts found there, along with the original bars and door of this slave jail. According to http://newsone.com/2758120/freedom-house-museum-alexandria-va/ 


 

This painting is called Style and Identity: Black Alexandria in the 1970s by Horace Day.
It was on display at the Alexandria Black History Museum in 2011.

To find out more about Black History in Alexandria, Virginia, you can visit the Alexandria Black History Museum.  I sure plan to!

 

Last but not least on our way home. Besides the really cold weather and having to walk a lot, it was a good metro journey.