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Historic Alexandria will commemorate one of the largest escape attempts in American history this weekend, offering free admission and special programming at Freedom House Museum, 1315 Duke Street, on April 11 and 12.
The "Remember the Pearl" weekend honors the 77 enslaved people who, in April 1848, attempted to flee bondage by boarding the schooner Pearl from the wharves of southwest Washington, D.C. Among them were sisters Mary and Emily Edmonson, who were subsequently jailed at the Bruin slave jail in Alexandria and trafficked through the city as part of the domestic slave trade after the escape attempt failed. The sisters eventually gained their freedom and became prominent voices in the abolitionist movement.
Visitors who mention "Remember the Pearl" at the door will receive free admission both days. Docent-led discussions about the Pearl's history and its broader social impact will be held during regular museum hours — Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On Saturday, April 11, the museum will host a free public conversation from 10 to 11 a.m. centered on a Framework for Social Resistance. The session will draw on the Edmonson sisters' story as a historical lens while featuring Earl Yates, a longtime member of the Social Justice Ministry at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., who will offer contemporary examples of the framework. Attendees will also have time to reflect on how the framework applies to their own lives.
Yates spent his career working with developing nations through the Peace Corps and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The weekend events come as the city is separately weighing a formal proposal to honor the Edmonson sisters in a more permanent way. The Alexandria City Council Naming Committee has scheduled a public hearing April 30 on a proposal to rename Iverson Street — which is currently named for Confederate Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson Jr. — to Edmonson Street. The renaming is part of Phase 2 of the city's ongoing effort to remove Confederate honors from Alexandria streets, rooted in a 1953 ordinance that directed all north-south streets to be named for Confederate military leaders. A final decision is expected later this spring.
The programming also comes just five months after the Freedom House Museum marked another milestone. In November, the museum completed a 16-month exterior restoration that returned the building to its pre-Civil War appearance. The structure served as headquarters for Franklin and Armfield, one of the largest slave-trading companies in the country, from 1828 to 1861, with the firm often selling 1,000 people annually. Thousands of enslaved people were trafficked through the building to Deep South labor markets during that period.
A bronze sculpture of the Edmonson sisters is among the artifacts on the museum's third floor. Audrey Davis, director of the African American History Division of the Office of Historic Alexandria, said at the November reopening that the museum represents a commitment to comprehensive historical truth-telling.
"We want to prove that being American does not mean negating, dismissing, or hiding history, however painful," Davis said. "It means shining a light in all the corners, elevating all the stories and all the historic figures that make our country what it is."
General admission to Freedom House Museum is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 5 to 12. Admission is free for City of Alexandria residents year-round.
Freedom House Museum is one of eight museums and historic sites operated by the Office of Historic Alexandria. For more information, visit alexandriava.gov/Historic.
