Friends, family, colleagues, civic leaders and others inspired by her life were on hand June 23 for the formal unveiling of a marker honoring the legacy of Evelyn Reid Syphax.
The commemorative placard sits adjacent to Arlington Public Schools’ headquarters, which also bears the name of Syphax (1926-2000), a noted educator, entrepreneur, philanthropist and social-justice fighter.
“I feel the love in the room,” said Craig Syphax, one of her sons, calling his mother “a woman of remarkable strength, grace and compassion.”
As for the new memorial marker? “Let it inspire future generations,” he said.
“She was everywoman,” added Dr. Marye Jeffries, a longtime leader in the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., one of the many organizations Mrs. Syphax held leadership posts in.
“One of the things she taught me was that to move up, you had to show up,” Dr. Jeffries said at the ceremony. “I don’t think there was an organization she didn’t belong to.”
“She worked relentlessly – she was a beacon of inspiration,” Arlington School Board Chairman Cristina Diaz-Torres said at the ceremony. (Mrs. Syphax herself had at one time served on the School Board.)
“A multitude of lives were touched and impacted by her,” said her son Rev. Douglas Syphax, who called her “a dynamic instrument” on behalf of good.
“It is on her shoulders we stand,” said Dr. Kimberly Jeffries Leonard, national president of The Links Inc., another group Mrs. Syphax was involved in extensively.
Mrs. Syphax had served as Leonard’s sponsor in the organization. “I watched her in awe – my idol and my mentor,” Leonard said, noting that one of Mrs. Syphax’s beliefs was to “lead like someone you want to follow.”
The marker, which last year was approved by the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board, sits just outside 2110 Washington Blvd., where the school system leases space for its administrative headquarters. The bulk of the ceremony, sponsored by the Zeta Chi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha and its president Crystal Lander, was held indoors to spare participants from hot and humid conditions.
Several speakers touched on the difficulties experienced by those attempting to move the community forward from Virginia’s long history of segregation. With the memorial marker in place, “Arlington residents can learn and appreciate the sacrifices, dedication and perseverance” involved, said Darlena Ricks, history-committee chair of the local Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter.
“As you get older, you appreciate how important history is – how important it was to have these trailblazers,” said U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th).
Moving to Arlington in 1951, Mrs. Syphax was a public-school teacher for more than two decades, and in 1956 married into the historic Syphax family in a union with Archie Syphax.
In 1963, Mrs. Syphax launched a child-care center, and was an early booster of Montessori-based education. She was active in efforts to implement desegregation of county schools in the 1960s-70s, and served on a number of state educational-advisory panels. She was particularly close to former Gov. Douglas Wilder, but also worked across the partisan divide (hosting then-President Gerald Ford at the Mid-Atlantic Alpha Kappa Alpha gathering in 1975).
Mrs. Syphax in 1956 established the Arlington (Zeta Chi Omega) chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and was founder and first president of the Northern Virginia chapter of the Coalition of 100 Black Women.
With her sons, she was a driving force for the establishment of the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington, having previously served as president of the Arlington Historical Society.
Mrs. Syphax was honored as “Woman of the Year” by the Inter-Service Club Council of Arlington (1981) and a “Notable Woman of Arlington” by the Commission on the Status of Women (1992).
Following her death, the school of education at Virginia Union University was renamed in her honor.
