Annandale church celebrates Juneteenth with rally in support of Black Lives Matter

 

 

Despite the rain, over 25 people demonstrated in front of Little River United Church of Christ in Annandale on Friday, Juneteenth, in support of Black Lives Matter and against violence and brutality.

 

Since its founding in 1955, Little River United Church of Christ has been celebrating diversity, independent thought, and faithful action. It was the first racially integrated church in the segregated Virginia of the 1950s.

 

Initially known as the Congregational Christian Church of Fairfax County, the church met in what was then the Annandale Elementary School on Columbia Pike until the construction of the current building on Little River Turnpike was completed in 1959.

The church was the result of faithful work by people interested in establishing a church in Northern Virginia where all races could worship together. With that background, it is interesting that the present church property sits on land once owned by one of the largest slave-holding families in Fairfax County before and during the Civil War.

Consistent with our welcoming tradition, in 2001 we formally declared Little River United Church of Christ to be “open and affirming,” explicitly expressing a welcome to people of diverse personal and religious backgrounds – without regard to race, gender, age, physical ability, or sexual orientation.

Roberta Croll is communications coordinator for the Little River United Church of Christ.