In 1985, the City of Philadelphia did something unheard of in the United States – it dropped a bomb on one of its neighborhoods. The resulting fire killed 6 adult and 5 child members of a radical primitivist environmental anarchic group called MOVE. The fire spread along Osage Avenue, destroyed more than 60 homes, and left 250 men, women, and children homeless. Former MOVE members are interred in Nature’s Sanctuary, the green natural burial section at Laurel Hill West. Louise Leaphart James and LaVerne Leaphart Sims were sisters to the acknowledged group leader John Africa but left the organization before the conflagration. To tell their story, I must tell the story of John Africa, the formation of MOVE, and its frequent confrontations with neighbors and city officials in this month’s episode of Biographical Bytes from Bala #029: MOVE and Laurel Hill.
WALKING TOUR: Laurel Hill West from Pencoyd to Barmouth
ABC #044: Some James Garfield Connections at Laurel Hill
BBB #013: Every Brilliant Thing: Ice Cream and Laurel Hill
ABC #043: Tick Tock: Clocks, Watches, and Laurel Hill, Part 1
BBB #012: Turbaned Warrior for Justice - C. DeLores Tucker
ABC #042: Mint Condition: Some Laurel Hill Coinage Connections
BBB #011: The Red Rose Girls and Henrietta Cozens
ABC #041: Three More Drinker Siblings to Know - Harry, Cecil, and Kitty
BBB #010: Lincoln’s Railroad Man - Herman Haupt
ABC #040: Friends of Thomas Jefferson, Part 1 - I’m Just a Bill
BBB #009: A Forgotten Pioneer in Gender Studies - Helen Bradford Thompson Woolley
WALKING TOUR: West Laurel Hill from Barmouth to Pencoyd
ABC #039: In Heaven There Is No Beer- Brewers of Laurel Hill
BBB #008: Every Writer’s Writer, Every Human’s Human - Loren Eiseley
ABC #038: Through the Looking Glass: Lewis Carroll Connections
BBB #007: Altering History - Francis, Clara, and Susanna Dercum
ABC #037: Boies Will Be Boys - Senator Penrose and His Brothers
BBB #006: A Life for Peace - Hannah Clothier Hull
ABC #036: The Three Remarkable Wister Sisters
BBB #005: Philadelphia’s First Black ”Power Couple” - Raymond Pace & Sadie T.M. Alexander
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