ABOUT THIS BOOK

Black Philadelphians have shaped Philadelphia history since colonial times. In Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape, Amy Cohen recounts notable aspects of the Black experience in Philadelphia from the late 1600s to the 1960s and how this history is marked in the contemporary city. She charts Charles Blockson’s efforts to commemorate the Pennsylvania slave trade with a historical marker and highlights Richard Allen, who founded Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church.

Cohen also describes the path to erecting a statue of civil rights activist Octavius Catto at Philadelphia’s City Hall and profiles international celebrities Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson who are honored in the city. At the end of each chapter, she includes suggestions to continue readers’ exploration of this important cultural heritage.

Showing how increased attention to the role of African Americans in local and national history has resulted in numerous, sometimes controversial, alterations to the landscape, Cohen guides readers to Black history’s significance and its connections with today’s spotlight on racial justice.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Amy Cohen is an educator, historian, and writer. After twenty years teaching social studies, she became Director of Education for History Making Productions and is a contributing writer for Hidden City Philadelphia. Visit her online at amyjanecohen.com.

REVIEWS

“In Amy Cohen’s able hands, the history of Philadelphia is Black history, from the enslaved laborers who built the eighteenth-century city and the Black abolitionists who fought to end slavery to the activists who led the city’s civil rights and Black Power movements. As if that were not enough, Cohen also highlights the vital contributions of Philadelphia’s public historians, whose advocacy for historical markers and memorials has inscribed Black history into the city’s built environment. Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape is essential reading for all who value honest and unapologetic assessments of the nation’s past.”—Matthew J. Countryman, Associate Professor of African American and African Studies and History at the University of Michigan, and author of Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia

“A polyvocal collection of hidden histories beaming a black light on spectacular intersectional lives who have made Philadelphia, this book helps unmute lost legacies of its public spaces and rethink stories of cityhood. Cohen offers an actionable Black atlas for navigating the nation’s most historic city—whether as a student, a visitor, or an everyday resident. Moreover, packaging this pluriverse of global Black history made locally provides an urgent model for practicing love of place by expanding who embodies the ‘echoes of heritage’ in America. The window is now wider for inviting more colorful, just futures.”—Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta, Lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, and contributor to The Black Geographic: Praxis, Resistance, Futurity

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Maps

Foreword by Wendell E. Pritchett

Introduction

Part I: Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries

1. Charles L. Blockson: Collecting and Marking Black History

2. Community Formation in the Colonial City: The Ghosts of Washington Square

3. Envisioning Dinah: Stenton’s Ongoing Challenge

With a Reflection by Karyn Olivier

4. Richard Allen and Absalom Jones: Leadership in the Center of Free Black Life

With a Reflection by State Representative Chris Rabb

5. The President’s House Memorial: P.S. George Washington Slept Here

With a Reflection by Michael Coard

Part II: Nineteenth Century

6. Pennsylvania Hall: City of Brotherly Love?

7. A Pantheon of Heroes: Uncovering Philadelphia’s Underground Railroad

With a Reflection by Dr. Naomi Johnson Booker

8. Octavius Catto and A Quest for Parity: A Monumental Statement

9. W. E. B. Du Bois and the Seventh Ward: Reviving The Philadelphia Negro

With a Reflection by Reverend Dr. Charles Howard

Part III: Twentieth Century

10. First African Baptist Church: Sacred Sacrifices and Real Estate Realities

11. Julian Francis Abele: The Unlikely Figurehead of Black Doctors Row

12. Alain Locke: Triple Minority and Native Son

13. Marian Anderson and Sadie Alexander: A Tale of Two Cities

With a Reflection by Jillian Patricia Pirtle

14. The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors: The Prolonged Battle for a Place on the Parkway

15. Paul Robeson: The Philadelphia Retirement of a Renaissance Man

16. The Brief Life of Malcolm X High School: What’s in a Name?

With a Reflection by Kenneth Hamilton

17. Reverend Leon Sullivan: North Philadelphia’s Lion of Zion

With a Reflection by Mable Ellis Welborn

18. Cecil B. Moore: Civil Rights Boss

With a Reflection by Karen Asper Jordan

19. Philadelphia’s Black Power Movement: Coming Full Circle

With a Reflection by Aden Gonzales

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index

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