Transportation

One needs transportation to reach jobs, health care, schools, child care, and other necessities of life. However, for many years, the movement of Black communities and their access to public transit was restricted.

In 1946, three months after the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation on interstate public transport (Morgan v. Virginia), a Black commuter, Lottie Taylor, sat in the front of a bus traveling from Washington, D.C. into Northern Virginia. Taylor was forcibly removed by Fairfax Police and charged with disorderly conduct, but she won her case in the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals (Taylor v. Virginia).

Transportation infrastructure was itself a tool of exclusion, whether it was making it a crime to commute to work in the wrong section of a bus or decimating Black communities to construct highways. The construction of Shirley Memorial Highway cut a path through Green Valley in South Arlington, and Lincolnia, near what became Landmark Mall. Black communities were displaced in the 1920s when Lee Highway was routed through the Fall’s Church enclave of Tinner Hill. The growth of largely white suburbs in the outlying areas of Northern Virginia led to the expansion of interstate highways throughout Northern Virginia. Planners routed these highways through Black neighborhoods, creating corridors of low-priced property, especially along Shirley Memorial Highway and Interstate 95, which were zoned for high-density housing.

James H. Thomas, 23, of Washington D.C. boards the bus for a trip to Virginia on June 4, 1946, the day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Virginia law that mandated racial segregation of interstate buses. DC Public Library, Star Collection © Washington Post.
James H. Thomas, 23, of Washington D.C. boards the bus for a trip to Virginia on June 4, 1946, the day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Virginia law that mandated racial segregation of interstate buses. DC Public Library, Star Collection © Washington Post.
Virginia Supreme Court Ruling, Lottie E. Taylor v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 1948, ruled in favor of Ms. Taylor. Source: Washington and Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons.
Virginia Supreme Court Ruling, Lottie E. Taylor v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 1948, ruled in favor of Ms. Taylor. Source: Washington and Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons.
The area where Queen City once stood is now occupied by the “three-leaf clover” part of the highway adjacent to the Pentagon. Source: U.S. Bureau of Public Roads.
The area where Queen City once stood is now occupied by the “three-leaf clover” part of the highway adjacent to the Pentagon. Source: U.S. Bureau of Public Roads.
Notice, from the 1950’s, that Virginia state law mandates racial segregation of buses. Source: Library of Virginia.
Notice, from the 1950’s, that Virginia state law mandates racial segregation of buses. Source: Library of Virginia.
Black newspaper announcing the June 3, 1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Morgan v Virgina) striking down the state's Jim Crow ("JC") law that mandated racial segregation on commercial interstate buses. Source: Ferris State University.
Black newspaper announcing the June 3, 1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Morgan v Virgina) striking down the state's Jim Crow ("JC") law that mandated racial segregation on commercial interstate buses. Source: Ferris State University.
Interstate 95 (Shirley Highway) at rush hour, 1971. Decades earlier, the construction of this highway, to help (largely white) motorists commute from distant suburbs, forced the displacement of historic Black neighborhoods. Source: Library of Congress.
Interstate 95 (Shirley Highway) at rush hour, 1971. Decades earlier, the construction of this highway, to help (largely white) motorists commute from distant suburbs, forced the displacement of historic Black neighborhoods. Source: Library of Congress.
“Army ‘Blitz’ Levels Arlington Area,” this photo, from the April 18, 1942 edition of the Washington Star, features the shell of a house being removed to make way for roads that would surround the Pentagon which is seen in the background. DC Public Library, Star Collection © Washington Post.
“Army ‘Blitz’ Levels Arlington Area,” this photo, from the April 18, 1942 edition of the Washington Star, features the shell of a house being removed to make way for roads that would surround the Pentagon which is seen in the background. DC Public Library, Star Collection © Washington Post.
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Fast Forward

People need a competent transportation infrastructure to reach jobs, physicians, child care, and other essential resources. In a previous report by the Center on Society and Health, Uneven Opportunities, we found that although the percentage of residents commuting to work by motor vehicle ranged from 28% to 97% across Northern Virginia, more than 20% of people in 17 census tracts lacked access to a motor vehicle. Placing bus stops in proximity to disadvantaged areas, modifying transit routes to improve access to employment opportunities and schools, and curbing fares for Metrorail and local connector bus services to make public transit more affordable for low-income families could all help to ease the transportation burden on Northern Virginia’s Black families.

Stories

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