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Arlington House became a memorial to Robert E. Lee by Congress in 1955. The name has been modified several times from Arlington House, to the Custis-Lee Mansion, to Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial. Descendants of people who lived at this site want the site redesignated as Arlington House National Historic Site so that it reflects not just Lee but everyone who has been part of the space.

Robert E. Lee married Mary Anna Randolph Custis in the parlor of the Arlington House in 1831. He helped raise his 7 children there and he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army in the study. Robert E. Lee never owned Arlington House — it was his wife who inherited the property and the people when her father died in 1857.

Descendants of ancestors who were enslaved and enslavers at Arlington House have come together to after 160 years to find our collective voice and reclaim our narrative. The narrative is much broader than Robert E. Lee. One of the ways we are working to do that is to pass legislation that will rename the National Park Service Site known today as Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial and redesignate it as Arlington House National Historic Site.

We, the descendants, encourage you to view these pages and add your voice to ours. Among these pages you can learn about the history of Arlington House and find tools that will help you support this legislative initiative.