Leesburg

African American History

Famous for its picturesque streets, handsome architecture and stylish bars and restaurants, county seat Leesburg is also a treasure trove of African American history easily accessible to the visitor. The Thomas Balch Library, built in 1922 and now a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site, documents the history and genealogy of the county, including the African American experience. It has a reading room named for Howard Clark, co-founder of the Loudoun County Emancipation Association.

In September 2024 the historic Loudoun County Courthouse in the heart of town was renamed the Charles Hamilton Houston Courthouse. In 1933 Houston became the first African American attorney to argue a major case in a southern courtroom, earning him the sobriquet “The Man who Killed Jim Crow.” The courthouse is another National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

A short walk away, a plaque at Liberty Street marks the spot of the Old Stone Church where Black and White congregants prayed in the years before the Civil War. After the war, the Black congregants organized the still-standing Mount Zion Methodist Church at North and Church, overseen by Reverend William L. Robey. The Leesburg branch of the Freedmen’s Bureau, established during Reconstruction to provide legal rights and assistance for formerly enslaved Blacks and poor Whites, was at 209 South King Street.

Several murals in downtown Leesburg depict the extraordinary contribution of African Americans to the county’s history. January 2023 saw the official unveiling on the wall of the Loudoun Museum of Washington DC artist Shawn Perkins’ “Journey to Freedom” mural. The piece depicts Bazil Newman, a Black 19th Century Loudoun landowner and ferry business operator taking a young Black boy across the Potomac to freedom in Maryland on a moonlit night. Loudoun abolitionist Leonard Grimes observes from the riverbank.

A short walk east of the museum, on the walls of the public garage on Lassiter Way, murals by local artist Kim P. Kim depict two renowned Black Leesburg business owners: Robinson’s Barbershop proprietor and US Marine Nelson “Mutt” Lassiter who passed away in 2020 aged 83, and Marie Medley-Howard, said to be the first African American woman to own a business in town – a beauty salon.

The Historic Douglass School at Catoctin Circle and East Market is the site of the first African American high school in Loudoun which operated from 1941 until 1968. Now a community center with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, it was completely renovated in early 2023 and features an extraordinary collection of historic Black and White photographs inside and Black history themed sculptures and murals in the gardens and playground. Next to a bronze sculpture of Frederick Douglass is a collection of murals featuring portraits of Black Civil Rights leaders and artists such as Louis Armstrong. The school has a storied and loyal alumni association.

Visit Leesburg.gov to download the Leesburg African American History walking tour app to learn more.