Why is this important?

The history of African Americans and other minorities have often been overlooked by historians of the past, so continuing to learn and document people like West Ford and the community he founded is important. Other than the founding of Gum Springs, West Ford is most famous for being the illegitimate son of George Washington. For many who recognise the name, that is most likely the first thing that comes to mind. However, as described earlier, after looking into the subject more thoroughly, it seems unlikely that he is George Washington’s son. Too many things don’t fit right for it to be possible. The founding of the historic community is overshadowed by false information. This type of inaccuracy can be avoided through research and proper documentation of the facts. If it weren’t for his connections to the Washingtons, it is possible that he never would have been known in the first place, as many people’s stories have been lost to time and many more will be in the future. With the internet, it is less likely that information will be lost altogether, but without careful and accurate documentation, it is still possible.

Gum Springs is a historic black community in Virginia. It is the oldest African American community in Fairfax County. The history of your community is something that many people think is very important. Regardless of whether you find it important or not, these subjects hold lots of personal meaning to some people. The history of Gum Springs has more importance and direct impact than some other, more well known parts of history taught in schools. West Ford’s life and work led to a place where free African Americans could buy land and live more safely than other places in the country. It is important to learn about the life of West Ford in order to understand the circumstances of how a former slave was able to create a lasting legacy and found a historic community while working to preserve preserving others.

There are some stories that you can only learn through historical markers like this. When searching for a marker to research, I looked at many, but almost none of them told about events I have heard before in school. These markers tell stories that you might not see anywhere else, they can inspire people to do research of their own and take the initiative of learning new things into their own hands.