Dollhouses Inspired By Alexandria History On Display At City's Black History Museum (PHOTOS)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- It's history and folk art all in one intriguing exhibit of dollhouses.

Two lifelong Alexandrians -- Sharon J. Frazier, a retired nurse and Linwood M. Smith, a retired automotive mechanic -- began working together in 1994 to create lovely and detailed miniature versions of their neighborhood's people and places.

"Our Alexandria: African American Dollhouses by Sharon J. Frazier and Linwood M. Smith," opens today at the Alexandria Black History Museum, includes a hair dressing salon, a medical building, an attorney's office, a nursery school and the Robert Robinson Library -- Alexandria's first black library.

That library was built by the city in 1940, after a 1939 sit-in at Alexandria's whites-only library organized by attorney and civil rights leader Samuel W. Tucker. The Robert Robinson Library now houses the Alexandria Black History Museum.

Meet Frazier and Smith at the opening reception for "Our Alexandria: African American Dollhouses by Sharon J. Frazier and Linwood M. Smith" on Feb. 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The exhibition runs until May 1 at the Alexandria Black History Museum (902 Wythe St., Alexandria).

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