A Place Called Ilda
Race and Resilience at a Northern Virginia Crossroads

Tom Shoop (Author)

9780813950860

Paperback / softback, published 1 February 2024

242 pages, 9 b&w illus., 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.272 kg

A Place Called Ilda is one of those books that you might feel compelled to finish in one marathon sitting. Author Tom Shoop weaves together a gripping narrative that brings to life a place from which a host of quintessentially American stories are told. For those of us who live steps from what was once a thriving Reconstruction-era integrated community lost to the forces of Jim Crow, it's a reminder of the fragility and uneven nature of progress. In this poignant tale, Shoop captures the essence of resilience and community, leaving readers with a lasting appreciation for the power of history to shape our present." - Braddock Supervisor James Walkinshaw

The compelling history of a racially integrated, and now forgotten, community in northern Virginia

Established by two Black entrepreneurs and their families, who provided the economic engine for its initial success, the village of Ilda flourished as a racially integrated community before the Jim Crow era. More than simply a history of a racially and socially pioneering community, this remarkable book tells a broader story, recounting the Black experience in Fairfax County over generations and shedding new light on the racial, economic, political, and bureaucratic factors that drove the development of Northern Virginia and the nation as a whole. Weaving together accounts of horse thievery, attempted murder, savage beatings, hate crimes, and a long-forgotten cemetery, this gripping and often moving narrative provides a rich and unusually detailed record of the rise, decline, and rediscovery of a crossroads whose secrets and mysteries depict an America that might have been, and might still be.