Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Records of the Syphax Family, Collection # RG 196, Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History

Acquisition Information

Gift of Margarite Reed Syphax (now Mrs. Margarite Syphax Vallery) in 2012.

Biographical/Historical Information

The name Syphax has been present in northern Virginia since the early 1800s. Some historians believe that Maria Carter Syphax might have been the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington and adopted by George Washington. Maria grew up at Arlington House, the slave of Parke Custis, and married Charles Syphax, another slave owned by Parke Custis. After their marriage, they were granted 17 acres of land which was officially deeded to them by an act of Congress in 1866. William Syphax, one of Maria and Charles' ten children, became the first president   of the trustee board of Colored schools in Washington, D.C. This William Syphax was the great-uncle of William Thomas Syphax.

William Thomas Syphax, who was born in Arlington, Virginia, became one of the leading black business entrepreneurs in the 1970s. His wife, Margarite Reed Syphax, was one of the first black businesswomen to be designated a Certified Property Manager. This prominent couple started a real estate and construction business that was recognized in Black Enterprise 's first list of the 100 Top Black Businesses in 1973. While building his business, William also found the time to get a Masters' Degree in Engineering Administration from George Washington University, and a PhD in Behavioral Philosophy from Pacific Western University. He had earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the Virginia State College for Negroes in 1942 and became its Rector in 1974.

William and Margarite met when both were serving the United States during World War II. William was a Group Electronics Officer in the United States Army Air Corps and Margarite toured as an acrobatic dancer with the USO. When William and Margarite returned to Arlington County after World War II, housing was still heavily segregated. In the early 1950s they started selling real estate. They then expanded their business and filled a need by designing and building housing for other black residents who were then living in substandard housing in the area then known as "Johnson Hill" and now called Arlington View; William and Margarite lived at 1327 S Queen St. They also built an apartment complex that had an open rental policy - unlike other apartment buildings at the time that were race restrictive. Photographs of the first houses they built are found in the "The Syphax Story - Getting Started."

Scope and Content

The files of the Syphax Family consist of 1.67 linear feet and cover the time period 1920 to 1993. The collection is arranged into seven series. Series 1 comprises the papers of William T. Syphax, both personal and business. The papers of Margarite Reed Syphax make up Series 2 . Series 3 are photographs and Series 4 are files on other Syphax family members. Some history of the Syphax family is found in Series 5 . Series 6 holds selected issues of Black Enterprise magazine from 1973 to 1983 and a copy of Ebony magazine from August 1977. All of these issues mention or feature Syphax businesses. Series 7 holds miscellaneous personal items of both William and Margarite Syphax.

In the photograph collection there is one image of William Syphax with President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter and Margarite Syphax with Mrs. Richard Nixon. There are also letters in the file from Rachel Robinson (Mrs. Jackie Robinson), Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, Walter Mondale, Charles Robb, and Herman Talmadge.

Arrangement

The papers were donated in two boxes with many loose newspaper articles and magazines. One binder entitled "The Syphax Story" was kept intact and divided into four folders in Series 1 , the sections titled by the Syphaxes. Other papers and photographs were organized by the processor into personal and business files of both William and Margarite Syphax, and then other Syphax family members, the magazines and miscellaneous personal items, such as diplomas and drivers' licenses. The newspaper articles were photocopied and some were reprinted from the Washington Post online database.

Related Material

Other collections documenting Arlington's Black community are RG 11, Papers of Edmond C. Fleet , RG 349, Dororthea Hamm Personal Papers , and RG 328, Lomax AME Zion Church Papers .

Index Terms

Subjects:

• African American families.
• African American veterans
• African Americans -- Virginia
• Arlington (Va.)
• Arlington County (Va.)

Adjunct Descriptive Data