On Jun 23, 2007, at 10:52 AM, Debra Jackson/Harold Forsythe wrote:

> In the African-American community events do not require official  
> sanction. Given the history of repugnance among whites to the presence  
> of blacks, if black people chose to attend a public place on a  
> particular day, it would become part of the unofficial telegraph of  
> the white people to avoid that place on that day.  Assuming only that  
> the facts stipulated below are true about the National Zoo, it is easy  
> to see how that particular day became a blacks only day at the Zoo.
>
The annual African American Family Day Celebration at the National Zoo  
is an old and cherished tradition in Washington.  The Smithsonian is  
now undertaking a project to document its history:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/PressMaterials/PressReleases/ 
FONZ/2007/NMAAHC.cfm

More information about this year's event is here:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ActivitiesAndEvents/Celebrations/Easter/

A Washington Post article here --  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/09/ 
AR2007040900980.html -- records the day's origins as follows:

"The exact origins of the black family day are unclear, although by  
many accounts it emerged out of segregation and discrimination.

Berry [John Berry, the zoo's director] said one theory holds that in  
the late 1800s, when black families were barred from attending the  
White House Easter Egg Roll, they turned to the zoo to hold their own  
Easter celebration.

Another theory is that it began in an era when black domestics had to  
work on Easter Sunday in the homes of white District residents. On the  
Monday after Easter, they were allowed time off from work to celebrate  
the holiday, so they went to the zoo to picnic and hold their own egg  
roll, Berry said."

Of course, this isn't strictly Virginia history -- but the black  
communities in Northern Virginia and D.C. have had such close ties,  
certainly even closer than today when this tradition began, that this  
unique celebration is an appropriate subject for this list.

-- Jurretta Heckscher