Bringing Light to the Hidden History of Arlington House

A joint resolution to change the name of a National Park Service site in Arlington, Virginia, was presented to Congress on June 21, 2023. Sponsored by Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D-VA) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the legislation seeks to redesignate “Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial” to “Arlington House National Historic Site.” The House bill, H.J.Res.76, was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The Senate bill, S.J.Res.35, was referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Rooted in a request from descendants of people who were enslaved at Arlington House, changing the name would move the emphasis away from memorializing a Confederate officer and more appropriately reflect the larger history of the house. Proponents for the change also include descendants of the enslavers, among them, Robert E. Lee IV. Ironically, General Lee himself opposed erecting Confederate monuments.

Arlington House was built in the early 1800s by George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Custis Washington and adopted son of U.S. President George Washington. Arlington House is located in northern Virginia on a hill overlooking the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Some of the nearly five dozen enslaved people, inherited by Custis from Martha Washington and brought from Mount Vernon, were used for the construction.

In 1831, Robert E. Lee married Custis’ daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, and they lived in the house until Lee resigned his commission in the Union Army to join the Confederate Army. The house was subsequently used as offices for Union Army leadership. On June 15, 1864, during the American Civil War, 200 acres of the plantation were officially designated as a military cemetery, formally establishing Arlington National Cemetery.

Stephen Hammond, one of Ending Racism USA’s Special Advisors, is a 7^th generation descendant of people enslaved at Arlington House. His ancestors, the Syphax family, have a connection that reaches all the way back to G. W. Parke Custis. As a genealogist and historian for the Syphax family, Hammond has devoted decades to reconstructing their history. One of the great surprises of that research was to be able to confirm that the earliest members of the Syphax family were enslaved by the Washington family, and he was, indeed, related to the family of George and Martha Washington.

In addition to the joint resolution to redesignate Arlington House, a petition in support of the legislation has been started. With a goal of at least 5,000, at this writing, over 3,000 people have signed on to change Arlington House’s visible emphasis from honoring those who fought to protect slavery and, instead, to shine a light on the panorama of stories of enslaved people as well as their enslavers. This is an example of Black and white people working together to correct the historical record so it includes the stories of everyone who lived on the plantation.

You can help with this effort in three ways:

1. Sign the petition.
2. Share it with others.
3. Help raise awareness of elected officials in Congress nationwide and urge them to engage in the long-overdue reexamination of this iconic public symbol by recognizing the importance of sharing the entire narrative of everyone who is part of the history at the site.

For more information, visit:

• Arlington House Statement from Arlington Historical Society
• A Short History of the Arlington Property (PDF) from Arlington National Cemetery
• Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial from the National Park Service