Neighborhood and Community Services
Black History Month
At Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services, we continue to honor Black history by paying tribute to those who have had an impact on our community. The people listed below contributed to providing opportunities that promote equity and create positive outcomes, an important part of NCS' mission statement.
By naming facilities after such individuals, we ensure that their names are remembered and their impact is honored for generations to come.
Marguerite and James Mott were instrumental in the integration of Fairfax County recreation facilities. The Motts began their activism after they were turned away from picnicking at Lake Fairfax Park in 1965. They subsequently sued in U.S. District Court in Alexandria and won equal access to county facilities for Black people.
They later worked to establish the Braddock Community Center in Fairfax in 1969. In 1995, when the county rebuilt the center, which began in a log cabin and later a trailer, it renamed the facility the James and Marguerite Mott Community Center.
In 2023, their nephew, Keith Mott, donated a collection of artifacts about the Motts to the center to honor their history.
James Lee Community Center
James Lee Community Center in Falls Church has been an integral part of the Black community since its founding as a segregated school for Black children in 1948. The center is named for James Edward Lee, a Black man born free in 1839, who purchased the land. In 1945, James Lee’s son, Edward, sold a portion of the original property to the Fairfax County School Board to build a school for Black children.
James Lee School was the first Black school with indoor plumbing, heating, a classroom for each grade, a cafeteria and auditorium. The school closed with desegregation in the 1960s, and has served as a recreation center since the 1970s.
David R. Pinn Community Center
David and Sarah Pinn were among of several Black families that settled near what is now Zion Drive in Fairfax after the Civil War. In 1904, the Pinns donated an acre of land to build Little Bethel Baptist Church. The Sideburn Civic Association acquired the parcel in 1973 and the David R. Pinn Community Center was established. The center held a 50th anniversary celebration in 2023.
The center still serves members of the Sideburn community – including descendants of the Pinn family. The Fairfax County History Commission placed an historical marker at Pinn in 2009.
Cathy Hudgins Community Center at Southgate
Cathy Hudgins Community Center at Southgate is named for former Hunter Mill Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins, the first African American to sit on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
In 2006, Hudgins led the effort to build NCS’ Southgate Community Center at 12125 Pinecrest Road in Reston. Hudgins negotiated the land lease, secured the funding, and communicated her vision for programming and facilities. In 2021, the community center was renamed the Cathy Hudgins Community Center at Southgate.
Watch a video from the 2021 naming ceremony of the Cathy Hudgins Community Center at Southgate.
Minnie H. Peyton Community Center at Bailey’s
In September 2024, Bailey’s Community Center in Falls Church was renamed the Minnie H. Peyton Community Center at Bailey’s. Minnie Peyton (1889-1985), a pillar of the Black community of Springdale, co-owned five acres of land in Bailey’s Crossroads, later selling the land to the Fairfax County School Board.
Lillian Carey Elementary School, serving Black students, opened on the land in 1956. The former school site is now a part of this vibrant community center.
Black/African American Historical Marker Project
In 2021, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors initiated the Black/African American Historical Marker Project to help ensure a more comprehensive and inclusive telling of Fairfax County’s diverse history, including the Black/African American experience. Local youth nominated people and places significant to the African American community for the new markers. Fifty-three nominations were received, and Fairfax County NCS is leading the project to install five markers.
The first two were installed in 2024 – one honoring Civil Rights leader Lillian Blackwell near Oakton High School and one marking Gunnell’s Chapel in Dranesville.
