BIG BLOCKS GLASS LLC.

All the way to Toledo with the chair!!❤️❤️ www.plentyofthrones.com

This is a very place!!💯💯💯❤️

I had the pleasure of attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Kelly and Matthew Stafford
& Friends Education Center. I also met  Matthew Stanford, who does so much for this community!!💯💯💯

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James Parks was born into slavery in 1843 at Arlington Estate, the home of the Custis-Lee family. He was 18 when the Civil War broke out in April 1861 and by May of that year, the Lees had moved to Richmond, leaving behind their slaves and overseer at Arlington. The will of George Washington Parke Custis, Parks’ former owner, officially freed him from slavery in 1862.

After the U.S. Army took over the Arlington House and its grounds, Parks began working for the U.S. government to help construct Forts McPherson and Whipple (today Fort Myer). In 1864, when two hundred acres of the Arlington estate were set aside to form Arlington National Cemetery, Parks began working as a grave digger and groundskeeper. He continued this work until June 1925, when he was in his 80s.

Parks spent his entire life living and working on the land that had been the Arlington estate –he grew up in the Arlington House slave quarters, then lived at the Arlington Freedman’s Village until 1888, and then moved into a cabin near the cemetery’s south entrance. During Parks’ lifetime, he married twice and was the father of 22 children, five of whom served in the U.S . military during World War I.

James Parks died on August 21, 1929, at age 86. Prior to his death, the Secretary of War authorized for him to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery even though he was a civilian. On August 23, 1929, Parks' long service to Arlington, in both slavery and freedom, was honored with a full military honors funeral.

You can learn more about James Parks and other African American contributions to Arlington National Cemetery and our nation in our African American History module - https://education.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Themes/African-American-History

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