The Black population of Philadelphia dates to Colonial times but expanded tremendously during the so-called Great Migration that started around 1910.
Sarah A. Anderson came from an educated family – her father was the first Black dentist in Florida and her husband was a politically active podiatrist. Sarah served 17 years in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and quietly changed life for the better for thousands of Pennsylvanians, Black and white.
Samuel L. Evans was also from Florida and saw five lynchings before he was 10 years old. Through machinations that people are still pondering, he managed to make himself the “Godfather of Black Philadelphia” despite never being elected to public office. His wake was in City Hall.
Winifred Harris was the woman you wanted as your next-door neighbor. She rescued abandoned properties in West Philadelphia and converted them into vegetable gardens for the neighborhood, while planting more than 1000 trees for the city. Her shocking death at the hands of a home intruder was mourned by all who knew her.
For Black history month, learn about these three lesser-known heroes of Black Philadelphia in the February 2024 episode of “All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – Three More Black Pioneers”.
ABC#054 Hey! I Know That Song! - Composers and Interpreters
BBB#023: Philadelphia’s First Gentleman - Henry Plumer McIlhenny
ABC#053: Suited to a Tee - Golf Course Pioneers
BBB #022: Shop Until Thou Droppest - Strawbridge & Clothier: The Early Years
ABC#052: Reach for the Sky - Astronomers of Laurel Hill
BBB#021: Blood on the Tracks at Mile 59 - Duffy’s Cut
ABC#051: ”Killed by Indians” - Four Philadelphians Who Died in Battles with Indigenous People
BBB#020: Helping Standardize the World - Charles Benjamin Dudley and ASTM
ABC #050: A Couple of Haunted Houses - Baleroy & Grey Towers Castle
BBB#019: A Forgotten Photography Pioneer - John Carbutt
ABC #049: White Collar Crime - J. Edward Addicks, Samuel Ashbridge, and Joseph Miller Huston
BBB #018: Courage for the Deed, Grace for the Doing - The Shipley Sisters and Educating Girls
ABC #048: Shattering Some Glass Ceilings - Nellie Neilson, PhD; Sara Yorke Stevenson, DSci; Elizabeth Head Fetter, aka Hannah Lees
BBB #017: Swimming While Black - Raphael & Julia Coel
ABC #047: Three More Black Trailblazers - Dr. James Betts, Barbara Blackshear, ”Jocko” Henderson
BBB #016: A Cult of One’s Own - J. Elimar Mira Mitta
ABC #046: Fathers of American Medicine, Part 3 - Some Ethical Dilemmas
BBB #015: Pulling Out All the Stops - The Laurel Hill Organ Episode
ABC #045 Stogies, Coffin Nails, and Spittoons: Laurel Hill Tobacconists
BBB #014: Physician, Author, Philanthropist - Bushrod Washington James
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