Tinner Hill is an historic area of Falls Church, Virginia, named after Charles and Mary Tinner, an African-American couple who bought land there in the late 19th century.
The first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the United States was inaugurated at a house in Tinner Hill by Joseph Tinner and Edwin Bancroft Henderson in 1918.
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Joseph Tinner and Dr. Edwin B. Henderson organized the Colored Citizens Protective League (CCPL) in 1915, in response to a local law mandating residential segregation. Citizens from the African-American community filed a lawsuit against the city, seeking to block the ordinance, and successfully prevented the town council from implementing the law. In 1917 the U.S. Supreme Court case of Buchanan vs. Worley, nullified state laws making residential segregation legal.
Dr. Henderson requested a charter for a local branch of the NAACP and was allowed to operate a standing committee, under the authority of the NAACP. In 1918, a charter was granted to which allowed the CCPL to form the Falls Church and Vicinity NAACP. Tinner became the first president, and Henderson became the secretary.
Over the next 50 years the group spearheaded civil rights activities that established precedents for the nation: fighting for public utilities, a larger elementary school, and an effective postal service.
Erected by the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation in 1999, a fifteen-foot monument constructed of pink granite (trondhjemite) honors the men and women of Tinner Hill who formed the first rural branch of the NAACP. The archway design was executed by local artist and stonemason John Ballou.
The Annual Tinner Blues Festival takes place the second Saturday of June in Cherry Hill Park in the City of Falls Church. Many national and area blues musicians play at the event which began in 1993. It is a tribute to the memory of Piedmont Blues guitarist/singer John Jackson, who made his home in Northern Virginia.
African American Heritage site