Fairfax County History Commission’s 17th Annual History Commission Conference, “WE Are Fairfax County!”. Hosts Lynne Garvey-Hodge, Vice-Chair of the Fairfax County History Commission and Esther McCullough, Fairfax County History Commissioner, and a member of this History Conference Committee.
This is the first of four consecutive conferences that will chronologically examine the Peoples who have lived on this land and called Fairfax County “Home”. This year the conference presented information on Native American heritage and African American enslaved and freed heritage. This conference is dedicated to the memory of John Rutherford, Fairfax County Staff Archaeologist. Guests’ speakers include U.S. Congressman 11th District, Gerry Connolly Chairman, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Jeff McKay, Rose Powhatan, Pamunkey/Tauxenent, Native American Historian & Lecturer “Land Acknowledgement” & “Overview of Fairfax Native American Indian Tribes, D. Brad Hatch, PhD, “Eel Pots and Carp Pens: Contemporary Links to Patawomeck Indian Fishing Traditions” Alisa Pettitt, PhD, Fairfax County Staff Archaeologist, “Exploring Early Virginia via Virtual Immersion.” Judge Rohulamin Quander, Retired Senior Administrative Judge for the District of Columbia, “Seed and Blood: Slavery and the Violence of Cotton Capitalism.” Ron Chase, President, Gum Springs Museum, “Meet the Gum Springs Neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia” Marion Ransell Cohen, Ethnographer, Oral Historian, Public speaker, Educator, and Living History Interpreter “Fairfax Virginia: A Seventh Generation, African American Story.” And Linneall Naylor, Local historian and descendant of numerous African American blood lines hailing from Clifton, Manassas & other parts of Virginia “Meet My People!”
