Lomax AME Zion Church in Arlington, Virginia, Hosted Civil Rights Activists Before 1963 March on Washington

In the days before the August 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, civil rights activists from around the country stayed at Lomax Fellowship Hall at Lomax AME Zion Church in Arlington’s Green Valley neighborhood. The local Black churches in Arlington supported the event in ways that are not widely known, and the lodging offered at Lomax was one of those contributions, a practical act of hospitality to travelers (Matthew 25:35).

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his close friend and advisor, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, gave speeches at the church on the day before the march. The source describes the location as the church’s parking lot. In an oral history interview from the Arlington Public Library’s collection, however, Marionne Walls-Fort describes King’s speech as taking place in the back area behind the church.

The march drew more than 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. The source states that he called for economic justice, an end to segregation and equal rights for African Americans. The march is described as having helped generate momentum for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Walls-Fort is the daughter of the Rev. Arthur W. Walls, who served as pastor of Lomax from 1960 to 1976. In the interview, she said her parents were influential in keeping the congregation together during the civil rights movement. She recalled that when King was looking for a church in Virginia, her father volunteered the church, and that the family met King during his visit.

Walls-Fort also said that Jesse Jackson spoke at Lomax in support of equal rights. The source presents her account as her recollection of those events and does not independently confirm the details of each visit.

The source characterizes the local Arlington community as having provided lodging and support that linked participants to the national movement and its leaders. It presents the church’s role as part of a broader pattern in which grassroots efforts, including those in Arlington, supported the march.

Source: Read the original report