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Arlington Virginia History…From the Black Side

Announcing a New Children’s Picture Book!

Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8 is Available on Amazon.com

I’m excited to announce that my fourth self-published book, (and my first children’s picture book!) “Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8,” is NOW available on Amazon.com!

In 2019, I was working with Arlington Humanities and the Arlington Public Schools Career and Technical Education (CTE)  program on the Cigar Box Project. One of the CTE teachers, Kris Martini, asked if I’d ever considered writing a children’s book with some of the stories from my book, “My Halls Hill Family: More Than a Neighborhood.” Well, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

This storybook is the first in a series of children’s picture books about Halls Hill, a formerly segregated neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia.

I knew I wanted to figure a way to dramatize the people, organizations, and institutions, in a way that would be fun to read but also teach a little bit about life in Arlington in the period covered in the My Halls Hill Family book. Most importantly, I wanted to develop the story in a way that little ones could understand.

The stories will be dramatizations of real people, organizations, and institutions from the period 1866 to 1966 when the neighborhood was walled in and discriminated against by the government and society due to institutional racism.

In the first book in the series, Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8, readers will be introduced to Langston School and Fire Station 8, which were both real places in the community. Captain Alfred Clark is an important character in the book, due to his heroism which was featured in the Washington Post. One of the teachers at the segregated Langston School who is highlighted in the book is Mrs. Evelyn Reed Syphax, who was married to Fire Station 8 Firefighter Archie Syphax. She was a leader in education in Arlington and became the first African American member of the Arlington School Board. Little Michael Jones and his friends, Lance Newman, and Ronnie Deskins are also in the book. They were three of the four children who desegregated schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1959.

There’s a field trip today
And Michael’s delighted 
But it’s not the hook and ladder truck in the bay
That has him excited! 
It’s a request that he asks of others all-day
Join him on the trip to Fire Station 8
And see if what he wants comes his way!

Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8 Book Trailer

Michael is excited about the field trip and through his excitement, he learns about the importance of representation.

CHECK OUT WILMA AT THE ARLINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY
ON THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2022 AT 6 PM

Register for the Juneteenth Event at the library here -> REGISTER

Check out the events page for other events – https://hallshill.com/events/

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Arlington Virginia History…From the Black Side

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About Wilma Jones
About Wilma Jones

Wilma Jones is an author, speaker, civic activist, community leader, local historian and the CEO of Wilma J, LLC a business consulting company.

About HallsHill.com

HallsHill.com is a virtual space for people who want to learn more about Arlington VA history, told from the perspective of a local Black historian. Wilma Jones, a fourth generation resident of the Halls Hill neighborhood in Arlington is the author of "My Halls Hill Family: More Than a Neighborhood," and the children's picture book, "Little Michael Visits Fire Station 8. "

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