The story of how racial segregation and suburbanization shaped lives, the built environment, and the law in Arlington

In Built by the People Themselves, Lindsey Bestebreurtje traces the history of the Black community in Arlington, Virginia, from the first days of emancipation through the civil rights era in the twentieth century. A core insight of her account is how common people developed strategies to survive and thrive despite systems of oppression in the Jim Crow South. Moving beyond the standard story of suburbanization that focuses on elite white community developers, Bestebreurtje analyzes African American-led community development and its effects on Arlington County.

Author website: lindseybestebreurtje.org/arlingtonhistory

Lindsey Bestebreurtje, PhD, has served as a curatorial assistant with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture since 2015, where her work has earned the Excellence in Exhibition Award. Her publications have appeared in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and Reviews in American History.

"A creative study of African Americans as 'city-builders,' despite ongoing social, economic, and political injustice in their everyday lives, families, and communities."—Joe William Trotter Jr., author of Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America.

"Through exhaustive research Bestebreurtje provides insight into the evolving tactics used by Black residents to blunt efforts to destroy their homes and their community institutions."—Spencer R. Crew, Clarence J. Robinson, Professor of History, George Mason University, Director Emeritus of the National Museum of American History

Built by the People Themselves

African American Community Development in Arlington, Virginia, from the Civil War through Civil Rights

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Built by the People Themselves

African American Community Development in Arlington, Virginia, from the Civil War through Civil Rights

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