Philadelphia

By Timothy

Philadelphia is a Northeastern city with a lot of history and a grand amount of culture. It is the largest city
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With its population of over 1,560,297 people, it is the fifth most
populous city in the United States of America. It is found at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill
rivers. Its metropolitan area is filled with about 7.2 million people. History abounds in the majestic city of
Philadelphia. It is not only the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. It is home
to a strong civil rights movement and it is home to a strong multicultural population, which is
representative of the magnificent diversity of American society. Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania
in general are home to a wide spectrum of art, music, and other forms of cultural expression. Philadelphia
has 141.6 square miles. I love geography too, so it is always important to also acknowledge the surrounding
locations around Philadelphia in order to gauge a great context about the excellent city of Philly. Camden,
New Jersey is directly east of Philadelphia from across the Delaware River. To the southwest of Philadelphia
is Wilmington, Delaware. Northeast of Philadelphia is Trenton, New Jersey and New York City. Directly
southeast of Philly is found Atlantic City (which is on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean). Pittsburgh is far west
of Philadelphia as well. Philadelphia is major tourist spot for people from across America and from across
the world as well. It has attracted over 39 million domestic tourists in 2013, which has generated $10
billion. Philadelphia not only has gorgeous skyscrapers and an inspirational history. Today in 2016,
Philadelphia has a gross domestic product of $388 billion. That ranks Philadelphia as ninth among world
cities and fourth in America.
Girard Estates, West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Kensington, and other
neighborhoods show diversity and strength. Its skyline is growing. Philadelphia's culture is magnificent. It
has strong, resilient people who love the essence of human brotherhood and human sisterhood too.
Hoagies, cheesesteak, and other cuisine are enjoyed in Philly. The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the
Philadelphia Museum of Art outline the greatness of Philadelphia. We remember the sacrifice of so many of
our ancestors who fought, sacrificed for liberty, and advanced a dedication to justice. Philadelphia has been
in existence since October 27, 1682. Also, we want a better future for ourselves and for our descendants.
That's our profound destiny. We cherish joy and a tranquil society. Likewise, we realize that in order to
establish a more perfect union, we have to use profound, consistent, and firm activism to enrich the lives
of humanity. Therefore, Philadelphia is a strong city with an excellent cultural heritage.

One the map to the right, the purple area is the New Netherlands and he blue area is the area of New
Sweden (which existed centuries ago).

The Early Period

Before Philadelphia was created, the area was inhabited by
the Lenape (Delaware) Native Americans. The village of
Nitapkunk was found in the Fairmount Park area.
Nitapkunk means Place that is easy to get to. The villages
of Pmikpeka (meaning Where the water flows) and
Shackamaxon were located on the Delaware River. The
Delaware River Valley was called Suyd or South River or
Lnapei Sipu back then. European colonization of the
Delaware River started in 1609. This was when a Dutch
expedition led by Henry Hudson first entered the river in
search of the Northwest Passage (or a path trying to go from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean). The Valley included
the future location of Philadelphia was part of the New
Netherland claim of the Dutch. Dutch explorer Cornelius
Jacobsen Mey (after whom Cape May, New Jersey is named
after) shared the shoals (a natural body of land) of Delaware
Bay during the 1620s. The Dutch built a fort on the west side
of the bay at Swanendael. In 1637, Swedish, Dutch, and
German stockholders created the New Sweden Company to
trade for furs and tobacco in North America.

He was Johan Bjrnsson

Printz or the Governor of
New Sweden (which was a
Swedish colony) during the
17th Century. New Sweden
was found in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Under the command of Peter Minuit, the company's first expedition sailed from Sweden late in 1637 in two
ships, Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Gri. Minuit had been the governor of the New Netherland from 1626 to
1631. Resenting his dismissal by the Dutch West India Company, he had brought to the new project the
knowledge that the Dutch colony had temporarily abandoned its efforts in the Delaware Valley to focus on
the Hudson River valley to the north. (The Hudson was known to the Dutch as the Noort, or "North" river
relative to "South" of the Delaware.) Minuit and his partners further knew that the Dutch view of colonies
held that actual occupation was necessary to secure legal claim. The ships reached Delaware Bay in March
1638, and the settlers began to build a fort at the site of present-day Wilmington, Delaware. They named it
Fort Christina, in honor of the twelve-year-old Queen Christina of Sweden. It was the first permanent
European settlement in the Delaware Valley. Part of the colony would include land on the west side of the
Delaware River from just below the Schuylkill River.
Johan Bjrnsson Printz, who it had been ennobled, was appointed to be the first royal governor of New
Sweden, arriving in the colony on February 15, 1643. In his ten year rule, the administrative center of New
Sweden was moved north to Tinicum Island (to the immediate SW of todays Philadelphia). That is the place
where he built Fort New Gothenburg and his own manor house was called by him the Printzhof. The first
English settlement occurred about 1642 when 50 Puritan families from the New Haven Colony in
Connecticut. They were led by George Lamberton who tried to form a theocracy at the mouth of the
Schukylkill River. The New Haven Colony had earlier struck a deal with Lenape to buy much of New Jersey
south of present day Trenton. The Dutch and Swedes in the area burned the English colonists buildings. A
Swedish court under Swedish Governor Johan Bjrnsson Printz convicted Lamberton of trespassing,
conspiring with the Native Americans. The offshoot New Haven colony received no support. The Puritan
Governor John Winthrop said that it was dissolved owing to the summer sickness and mortality. This
disaster contributed to New Havens losing control of its area to the larger Connecticut Colony.
In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannock in their victory in a war against the English Province of
Maryland (led by General Harrison II). The Dutch never recognized the legitimacy of the Swedish claim and
in the late summer of 1655, Director General Peter Stuyvesant (of New Amsterdam) mustered a military
expedition to the Delaware Valley. He wanted to subdue the rogue colony of New Sweden. Though the
colonists had to recognize the authority of New Netherland, the Dutch terms were tolerant. The Swedish
and Finnish settlers continued to enjoy a much local autonomy, having their own militia, religion, court, and
lands. This official status lasted until the English conquest of New Netherland in October 1664, and
continued unofficially until the area was included in William Penn's charter for Pennsylvania in 1682. By
1682, the area of modern Philadelphia was inhabited by about 50 Europeans, mostly subsistence farmers.
In 1681, as part of repayment of a debt, Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for what
would become the Pennsylvania Colony. Shortly after receiving the charter, Penn said that would lay out: a
large Towne or Citty in the most convenient place upon the Delaware River for health & Navigation. Penn
wanted the city to live peacefully in the area, without a fortress or walls. So, he bought land from the
Lenape. There is a legend that Penn made a treaty of friendship with Lenape chief Tammany under an elm
tree at Shackamaxon. That is known as the citys Kensington District. Penn wants a city where all people
regardless of religion could worship freely and live together. Penn was a Quaker. So, he experienced
religious persecution. He also planned that the city's streets would be set up in a grid, with the idea that the
city would be more like the rural towns of England than its crowded cities. The homes would be spread far
apart and surrounded by gardens and orchards. The city granted the first purchasers land along the
Delaware River for their homes. It had access to the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean, and became an

important port in the Thirteen Colonies. He named the city Philadelphia (philos, "love" or "friendship", and
adelphos, "brother"); it was to have a commercial center for a market, state house, and other key buildings.
Penn sent three commissioners to supervise the settlement. They were to set aside 10,000 acres of land for
the city. The commissioners bought land from the Swedes at the settlement of Wicaco and from there
began to lay out the city toward the north.

In 1682, Philadelphia was founded as capital of the English Crown in the Province of Pennsylvania by
William Penn. The first mayor was Humphrey Morrey as he was appointed by Penn in 1691.
The area went about a mile along the Delaware River between South and Vine Streets. Penns ship
anchored off the coast of New Castle, Delaware on October 27, 1682. He arrived into Philadelphia a few
days after that. He expanded the city west to the bank of the Schuylkill River for a total of 1,200 acres (or
4.8 km2). Except for the two widest streets, High (now Market) and Broad, the streets were named after
prominent landowners who owned adjacent lots. The streets were renamed in 1684; the ones running eastwest were named after local trees (Vine, Sassafras, Mulberry, Cherry, Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, Spruce,
Pine, Lombard, and Cedar) and the north-south streets were numbered. Within the area, four squares (now
named Rittenhouse, Logan, Washington and Franklin) were set aside as parks open for everyone. Penn
designed a central square at the intersection of Broad and what is now Market Street to be surrounded by
public buildings. Some of the first settlers lived in caves dug out of the river bank, but the city grew with
construction of homes, churches, and wharves. The new landowners did not share Penn's vision of a noncongested city. Most people bought land along the Delaware River instead of spreading westward towards
the Schuylkill. The lots they bought were subdivided and resold with smaller streets constructed between
them. Before 1704, few people lived west of Fourth Street.

Growth
Philadelphia grew quickly during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was just a few hundred people to over
2,500 people in 1701. Most people in Philadelphia back then were English, Welsh, Irish, Germans, Swedes,
Finns, Dutch, and African people. There were African slaves in Philadelphia too. Before William Penn left
Philadelphia for the last time on October 25, 1701, he issued the Charter of 1701. That charter made
Philadelphia a city and gave the mayor, aldermen, and councilmen the authority to issue laws and
ordinances. Also, they had the power to regulate markets and fairs. The first known Jewish resident of
Philadelphia was Jonas Aaron. He was a German who moved into the city in 1703. He is mentioned in an
article entitled "A Philadelphia Business Directory of 1703," by Charles H. Browning. It was published in The
American Historical Register, in April, 1895. Philadelphia became an important trading center and a major
port. In the beginning, the citys main source of trade was with the West Indies. The West Indies had
established sugar cane plantations. This area was part of the evil Triangle Trade. The Triangular Trade was
about resources grown in the Americas, shipped into Britain (and Europe), and involving slaves from Africa
(European imperialism exploited slaves in order for these imperialists to get the resources in the Americas).
During Queen Anne's War (1702 and 1713) with the French, trade was cut off to the West Indies, hurting
Philadelphia financially. The end of the war brought brief prosperity to all of the British territories, but a
depression in the 1720's stunted Philadelphia's growth. The 1720's and '30's saw immigration from mostly
Germany and northern Ireland to Philadelphia and the surrounding countryside. The region was developed
for agriculture and Philadelphia exported grains, lumber products and flax seeds to Europe and elsewhere
in the American colonies; this pulled the city out of the depression. Philadelphias promotion of religious
tolerance attracted many other religions beside the Quakers. Mennonites, Pietists, Anglicans, Catholics, and
Jewish people moved into Philadelphia. They soon outnumbered the Quakers.
The Quakers still continued to be powerful economically and politically. Political tensions existed between
and within the religious groups, which also had national connections. Riots in 1741 and 1742 took place
over high bread prices and drunken sailors. In October 1742 and the "Bloody Election" riots, sailors

attacked Quakers and pacifist Germans, whose peace politics were strained by the War of Jenkins' Ear. The
city was plagued by pickpockets and other petty criminals. Working in the city government had such a poor
reputation that fines were imposed on citizens who refused to serve an office after being chosen. One man
fled Philadelphia to avoid serving as mayor. During the first half of the 18th century (like other American
cities), Philadelphia was filled with garbage, etc. There were animals littering the streets. Many roads were
unpaved and rainy seasons had many roads impassable. Early attempts to improve quality of life were
ineffective because laws were poorly enforced. By the 1750's, Philadelphia was turning into a major city.
Things changed. Christ Church and the Pennsylvania State House, better known as Independence Hall, were
built. Streets were paved and illuminated with oil lamps. Philadelphias first newspaper, Andrew Bradford's
American Weekly Mercury, began publishing on December 22, 1719. The city also developed culturally and
scientifically. Schools, libraries, and theaters were established early on in Philadelphia. James Logan arrived
in Philadelphia in 1701 as a secretary for William Penn. He was the first to help establish Philadelphia as a
place of culture and learning. Yet, the injustice of slavery still existed in Philadelphia back then.

This image shows the racist Paxton Boys who murdered Native Americans in cold blood.

Logan was the mayor of the city during the early 1720s. He created one of the largest libraries in the
colonies. He also helped guide other prominent Philadelphia residents like the botanist John Bartram and
Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia in October 1723 and would play a large role in
the citys development. To help protect the city from fire, Franklin founded the Union. In the 1750's
Franklin was named one of the city's post master generals and he established postal routes between
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and elsewhere. He helped raise money to build the American colonies' first
hospital, which opened in 1752. That same year the College of Philadelphia, another project of Franklin's,
received its charter of incorporation. Philadelphia was threatened by French and Spanish privateers. So,
Franklin and other created a volunteer group for defense and built two batteries. Benjamin Franklin
recruited militias during the beginning of the French and Indian War from 1754. This war was part of the
Seven Years War. Many refugees from the western frontier came into Philadelphia during that war.
Pontiacs Rebellion happened in 1763 which was about Native Americans fighting against Western
occupation. During that time, refugees again fled into the city. Some of these refugees were a group of
Lenape hiding from other Native Americans. They were angry at pacifism and white frontiersmen. The
Paxton Boys (or a Scots-Irish frontier vigilante group. This group was a bigoted anti-Native American group.
They are widely known for murdering 21 Susquehannock in events collectively called the Conestoga
Massacre) tried to follow them or the Native Americans into Philadelphia for attacks, but was prevented by

the city's militia and Franklin, who convinced them to leave. At daybreak on December 14, 1763, a vigilante
group of the Scots-Irish frontiersmen attacked Conestoga homes at Conestoga Town (near present day
Millersville), murdered six, and burned their cabins. Following attacks on the Conestoga, in January 1764
about 250 Paxton Boys marched to Philadelphia to present their grievances to the legislature. Met by
leaders in Germantown, they agreed to disperse on the promise by Benjamin Franklin that their issues
would be considered. Many people back then oppose the murderous acts of the Paxton Boys.

By the 1700s, Philadelphia has grown massively. James Hogan is mayor in 1722. The Library Company
of Philadelphia existed in 1731. The Kahal Kadosh Mikveh Israel synagogue was founded in 1740.
Newspapers spread. The American Philosophical Society was formed in 1769.

Philadelphia during the American Revolution

By the 1760s, the British Parliaments passage of the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts (along with other
frustrations) caused increased political tension and anger against England in the colonies. Philadelphia
residents joined the boycotts of British goods. After the Tea Act in 1773, there were threats against anyone
who would store tea and any ships that brought tea up the Delaware. After the Boston Tea Party, a
shipment of tea arrived in December. It was on the ship called the Polly. A committee told the captain to
depart without unloading his cargo. There were a series of acts in 1774, which angered the colonies.
Therefore, activists called for a general congress and they agreed to meet in Philadelphia. The First
Continental Congress was held in September in Carpenters Hall. After the American Revolutionary War
started in April 1775 (after the Battles of Lexington and Concord), the Second Continental Congress met in

May at the Pennsylvania State House. At that location, they also met a year later to write and sign the
Declaration of Independence in July of 1776.

Philadelphia was a vital city in the war effort. According to Robert Morris, he said that:
You will consider Philadelphia, from its centrical situation, the extent of its commerce, the
number of its artificers, manufactures and other circumstances, to be to the United States what the
heart is to the human body in circulating the blood (Weigley, RF et al. (eds): (1982),
Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-39301610-2).
The port city of Philadelphia was vulnerable to attack by the British by sea. Officials have recruited soldiers
and studied defense for invasion from the Delaware Bay, but they built no forts or other installations. In
March of 1776, two British frigates (or a type of warship) began a blockade of the mouth of Delaware Baby.
British soldiers were moving south through New Jersey and from New York. In December of 1776, there
was the fear of invasion caused half the population to flee the city including the Continental Congress. They
moved heavily into Baltimore. General George Washington pushed back the British advance at the battles
of Princeton and Trenton. Later, the refugees and Congress returned. In September 1777, the British
invaded Philadelphia from the south. Washington intercepted them at the Battle of Brandywine, but they
were driven back. Thousands of people fled north into Pennsylvania and east into New Jersey. Congress
moved to Lancaster, then to York. British troops marched into the half empty Philadelphia on September 23
to cheering Loyalist crowds. The occupation of Philadelphia by the British lasted for ten months. After the
French entered the war on the side of the Continentals, the last British troops pulled out of Philadelphia on
June 18, 1778 to help defend New York City. Contentials arrived the same day and reoccupied the city
supervised by Major General Benedict Arnold, who had appointed the citys military commander. The city
government was returned a week later and the Continental Congress returned in early July.
The historian Gary B. Nash mentioned about the role of the working class and their distrust of oligarchs in
the northern ports. He believes that the working class artisans and skilled craftsmen made up a radical
element in Philadelphia that took control of the city started in about 1770. These workers promoted a
radical democratic form of government during the revolution. They held power for a while. They also used
their control of the local militia to disseminate their ideology to the working class. They stayed in power
until the businessmen staged a conservative counterrevolution. Philadelphia suffered serious inflation,
causing problems especially for the poor, who were unable to buy needed goods. This led to unrest in 1779,
with people blaming the upper class and Loyalists. A riot in January by sailors striking for higher wages
ended up with their attacking and dismantling ships. In the Fort Wilson Riot of October 4, men attacked
James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who was accused of being a Loyalist
sympathizer. Soldiers broke up the riot, but five people died and 17 were injured. The United States Marine
Corps was founded in Tun Tavern in 1775.

Temporary Capital of America

After the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the United States Congress moved out of Philadelphia and settled in
New York City. NYC was once the temporary capital. Besides the Constitutional Convention in May 1787,
United States politics was not centered only in Philadelphia. As a product of a political compromise,
Congress chose a permanent capital to be built along the Potomac River (which will be Washington, D.C.).
Philadelphia was selected as the temporary United States capital for 10 year starting in 1790. Congress
occupied the Philadelphia County Courthouse, which became known as Congress Hall, and the Supreme
Court worked at City Hall. Robert Morris donated his home at 6th and Market Street as the residence for
President Washington, or the Presidents House (in Philadelphia). After 1787, the citys economy grew
rapidly during the post war years. Serious yellow fever outbreaks in the 1790s interrupted development.
Benjamin Rush identified an outbreak in August 1793 as a yellow fever epidemic. That was its first in 30
years and it lasted for four months. 2,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue had recently arrived in the city in
flight from the Haitian Revolution. They represented five percent of the city's total population. Some
believe that they carried the disease from the island where it as endemic. It was rapidly transmitted by
mosquito bites to other residents. The fear of contracting the disease caused 20,000 residents to flee the
city by mid-September. Some neighboring towns prohibited their entry. Trade virtually stopped; Baltimore
and New York quarantined people and goods from Philadelphia. People feared entering the city or
interacting with its residents. The fever finally abated at the end of October with the onset of colder
weather and was declared at an end by mid-November. The death toll was 4,000 to 5,000, in a population
of 50,000. Yellow fever outbreaks recurred in Philadelphia and other major ports through the nineteenth
century. None had the many fatalities as that of 1793. The 1798 epidemic in Philadelphia also promoted an
exodus, which had an estimated 1,292 residents died.

Slavery
During the 17th century, Sweden colonists owned black African slaves. In 1664, the Delaware settlers
contracted the West India Company "to transport hither a lot of Negroes for agricultural purposes." During
the 1600s, black slaves were in Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania. Even William Penn and many
Quakers back then owned slaves. Penn used slaves to work on his estate called Pennsbury. Slavery is totally
evil. The early population of black people in Philadelphia grew in the 1600s and during the 1700s. Except
for the cargo of 150 slaves aboard the "Bristol" (1684), most black importation was a matter of small lots
brought up from Barbados and Jamaica by local merchants who traded with the sugar islands. Prominent
Philadelphia Quaker families like the Carpenters, Dickinsons, Norrises, and Claypooles brought slaves to the
colony in this way. By 1700, one in 10 Philadelphians owned slaves. Slaves were used in the manufacturing
sector, notably the iron works, and in shipbuilding. Indentured servants worked in Pennsylvania as well.
11,000 slaves were in Pennsylvania by 1754 from 5,000 in 1721. Even free black people in Pennsylvania
were tried in special courts without a jury during the 1700s. Pennsylvania Mennonites had expressed
concerns about slavery since the 17th century, but it was only in 1758 that Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of
the Society of Friends made buying or selling a slave a bar to leadership in the Quaker meetings. In 1774 it
became cause for disowning. Pennsylvania started to abolish slavery in 1780.
The state required any slaves brought to the city to be freed after six months residency. This law was not a
pure proclamation of emancipation as about 6,000+ slaves were in Pennsylvania. The act that abolished
slavery in Pennsylvania freed no slaves outright, and relics of slavery may have lingered in the state almost
until the Civil War. There were 795 slaves in Pennsylvania in 1810, 211 in 1820, 403 or 386 (the count was
disputed) in 1830, and 64 in 1840. By 1860, no slaves existed in Pennsylvania. The state law was challenged
by French colonial refugees from Saint-Domingue. These refugees brought slaves with them. These slaves
were defended by the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Through 1796, 500 slaves from Saint-Domingue
gained freedom in the city. Because of the violence accompanying the revolution on the island,
Philadelphians, many of whom had southern ties, and residents of the Upper South worried that free
people of color would encourage slave insurrections in the U.S. During the citys 10 years as federal capital,
members of Congress were exempt from the abolition law, but many slaveholders in the executive and
judicial branches were not. President Washington, Vice-president Jefferson and others brought slaves as
domestic servants, and evaded the law by regularly shifting their slaves out of the city before the 6-month

deadline. Two of Washington's slaves escaped from the President's House (Philadelphia), and he gradually
replaced his slaves with German immigrants who were indentured servants. The remains of the Presidents
House (in Philadelphia) were found during excavation for a new Liberty Bell Center. This led to the
archaeological work in 2007. In 2010, a memorial on the site open-ended to remember Washingtons slaves
and African Americans in Philadelphia and U.S. history (as well to mark the house site).

Mother Bethel sits on the oldest plot of land continuously owned by African Americans in the United States.
James Forten was a wealthy black American sailmaker. He employed a multiracial group of craftsmen. He
was a leader of the African American community in Philadelphia and supporter of reform causes. The
American Antislavery Society was organized in his house in 1833. He lived from 1766 to 1842. Pennsylvania
Hall at 6th & Race was built as a safe haven for abolitionists. It was burned to the ground just 3 days after it
opened. Yet, the movement for justice continued. Robert Purvis also fought for abolitionism too. He
lectured and wrote literature. He was part of the Underground Railroad by building a secret area at his
house to hide slaves. Philadelphia was a known city where slaves traveled into before many of them came
into other areas of the North including Canada. William Still was part of the anti-slavery movement too.
One famous Underground Railroad stop was Johnson House in Germantown. One of the greatest Sisters of
the abolitionist movement was Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. She was an African American abolitionist,
suffragist, poet, and author. She was born in Baltimore and she worked in Philadelphia as well. She helped
escaped slaves to have freedom on their way into Canada via the Underground Railroad. She was a public
speaker and a political activist.
She joined the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853. Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854) became her
biggest commercial success. Her short story "Two Offers" was published in the Anglo-African in 1859. She
published Sketches of Southern Life in 1872. It detailed her experience touring the South and meeting
newly freed Black people. In these poems she described the harsh living conditions of many human beings.
After the Civil War she continued to fight for the rights of women, African Americans, and many other
social causes. In 1858, she refused to give up her seat or ride in the colored section of a segregated
trolley car in Philadelphia (100 years before Rosa Parks) and wrote one of her most famous poems, Bury
Me In A Free Land, when she got very sick while on a lecturing tour. Her short story The Two Offers
became the first short story to be published by a Black woman.

"We want more soul, a higher cultivation of all spiritual faculties. We need more unselfishness,
earnestness, and integrity. We need men and women whose hearts are the homes of high and lofty
enthusiasm and a noble devotion to the cause of emancipation, who are ready and willing to lay time,
talent, and money on the altar of universal freedom."
-Sister Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
In 1866, Harper gave a moving speech before the National Women's Rights Convention, demanding equal
rights for all, including Black women. During the Reconstruction Era, she worked in the South to review and
report on living conditions of freedmen. This experience inspired her poems published in Sketches Of
Southern Life (1872). She used the figure of an ex-slave, called Aunt Chloe, as a narrator in several of these.
She passed away in February 22, 1911. Caroline Le Count was in support of the desegregation of the citys
horse-drawn streetcars. She was called a slur by a conductor and the conducted was fined $100. Octavius
Catto was a black man who was one of the greatest black leaders of the 19th century. He fought on the
Union side during the Civil War. He was a fighter for black human rights and supported black people the
right to vote. He was a black educator and a civil rights activist in Philadelphia. He became known as a top
cricket and baseball player during 19th-century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In November 1864, Catto was elected to be the Corresponding Secretary of the Pennsylvania Equal Rights
League. He also served as Vice President of the State Convention of Colored People held in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania in February 1865. Catto fought fearlessly for the desegregation of Philadelphias trolley car
system via civil disobedience. A meeting of the Union League of Philadelphia was held in Sansom Street
Hall on Thursday, June 21, 1866, to protest and denounce the forcible ejection of several black women
from Philadelphia's street cars. He was a martyr who died to fight for human rights (he was murdered by a
racist white man named Frank Kelly, who was Irish. Many racist Irish folks wanted to prevent black people

to vote in Philadelphia back then). On October 10, 2007, the 136th anniversary of Catos death, the
Octavius V. Catto Memorial Fund erected a headstone at Catto's burial site at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale,
Pennsylvania. On October 10, 2007, the 136th anniversary of Catto's death, the Octavius V. Catto Memorial
Fund erected a headstone at Catto's burial site at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.

Industrial Growth
Industrial growth grew in Philadelphia into another level by the 19th century. The Pennsylvania state
government left Philadelphia in 1799. The United States government left in 1800. During this time, the city
was one of Americas busiest ports and the countrys largest city with 67,787 people living in Philadelphia
and its contiguous suburbs. Philadelphia maritime trade was interrupted by the Embargo Act of 1807 and
then the War of 1812 (where the British and Americans fought each other). After the war, Philadelphias
shipping industry never returned to its pre-embargo status. New York City succeeded it as the busiest port
and the largest city in America. The embargo and decrease in foreign trade led to the development of local
factories. These factories produced goods no longer available as imports. Manufacturing plants and
foundries were built and then Philadelphia existed as an important center of paper related industries (like
the leather, shoe, and boot industries). Coal and iron mines and the construction of new roads, canals, and
railroads helped Philadelphias manufacturing power. The city became the United States first major
industrial city. Some of the major industrial projects were like waterworks, iron water pipes, a gasworks,
and the U.S. Naval Yard. Many workers were exploited economically.
So, about 20,000 Philadelphia workers staged the first general strike in North America in 1832. They
wanted to end exploitative working conditions. These workers won the ten hour workday and an increase
in wages. In addition to its industrial power, Philadelphia was the financial center of the country. Along with
chartered and private banks, the city was the home of the First and Second Banks of the United States,
Mechanics National Bank and the first U.S. Mint Cultural institutions, such as the Pennsylvania Academy of

the Fine Arts, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Athenaeum and the Franklin Institute also developed in
the nineteenth century. The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed the Free School Law of 1834 to create
the public school system.
In the mid and later 1840s, immigrants from Ireland and Germany came into the city. This increased the
population of Philadelphia and its suburbs. In Philadelphia, as the rich moved west of 7th Street, the poor
moved into the upper class former homes. These homes were converted into tenements and boarding
houses. Many small row houses crowded alleyways and small streets. Some of these areas were filled with
garbage and the smell of manure from animal pens. During the 1840's and 1850's, hundreds died each year
in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts from diseases such as malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, and
cholera, related to poor sanitation and diseases brought by many factors. The poor suffered the most
fatalities. Small row houses and tenement housing were constructed south of South Street. There were
issues of violence too. Gangs like the Moyamesning Killers and the Blood Tubs controlled various
neighborhoods. During the 1840's and early 1850's when volunteer fire companies, some of which were
infiltrated by gangs, responded to a fire, fights with other fire companies often broke out. The lawlessness
among fire companies virtually ended in 1853 and 1854 when the city took more control over their
operations. During the 1840's and 50's, violence was directed against immigrants by people who feared
their competition for jobs and resented newcomers of different religions and ethnicities. The evil of
xenophobia is not a new phenomenon in American society.
The Gangs of New York film outlined these tensions which were common in Northeastern and Midwestern
cities back then. Nativists were bigots and their views are similar to the Tea Party. Many of them were antiIrish and some didnt like Catholics. Violence against immigrants occurred constantly. The worst in the
Philadelphia was the nativist riots in 1844. Also, violence against African Americans was also common
during the 1830's, 40's, and 50's. Immigrants competed with them for jobs, and deadly race riots resulted in
the burning of African-American homes and churches by cowardly racists. In 1841, Joseph Sturge
commented "...there is probably no city in the known world where dislike, amounting to the hatred of the
coloured population, prevails more than in the city of brotherly love!" Several anti-slavery societies had
been formed and free blacks, Quakers and other abolitionists operated safe houses associated with the
Underground Railroad, but many working class and many ethnic whites opposed the abolitionist
movement.

The Civil War

Philadelphia during the Civil War in America was a place where many troops, money, weapons, medical
care, and supplies aided the Union. Before the Civil War happened, Philadelphia had economic connections
with the South made much of the city sympathetic to Souths grievances with the North. It was Americas
second largest city during the antebellum period. This fostered political sympathy; for example, political
leaders in the city called for the repeal of laws that might be considered unfriendly to South. Meetings led
to calls for Pennsylvania to decide which side the state was on in the case of Southern succession. Many
abolitionists were harassed and threatened in Philadelphia. In the 1860 mayoral election the Democratic
Party candidate John Robbins challenged People's Party candidate and incumbent mayor Alexander Henry.
The People's Party in Pennsylvania was aligned with the national Republican Party, but downplayed the
issue of slavery and made tariff protection their main issue in the state. During the election, the Democrats
attacked Alexander Henry's moderate position on slavery as virtual abolitionism. Alexander Henry was
reelected. Abraham Lincoln won the city by 52 percent of the citys vote.
Once the Civil war started, many Philadelphians opinion shifted in support for the Union and the war
against the Confederates. American flags and bunting existed all over the city as people were angry at
southern sympathizers. A mob threatened the home of the Palmetto Flag, a secessionist newspaper. The
police and Mayor Alexander Henry were able to prevent the mob from causing damage, but the newspaper
shutdown shortly after. Other newspapers which also had a pro-southern slant also suffered from
dwindling circulation. Around August 1861 federal authorities arrested eight people for expressing prosouthern sympathies. Most of the people were released soon after, but one, the son of William H. Winder,
was held for more than a year. Authorities also shut down a pro-southern weekly newspaper called the
Christian Observer.
More than 50 infantry and cavalry regiments were recruited fully or in part in Philadelphia. The city was the
main source for uniforms for the Union Army. The city manufactured weapons and built warships. Two of

the largest military hospitals in America during that time were in Philadelphia. Their names are Satterlee
Hospital and Mower Hospital. By 1863, Philadelphia was threatened by Confederate invasion during the
Gettysburg Campaign. Major-General Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana took command of the military
district of Philadelphia on June 26. With Mayor Henry finding volunteers Dana organized the construction
of entrenchments to defend the city. Pennsylvania governor Andrew Gregg Curtin arrived in the city at the
beginning of July hoping to rally the city out its lack of urgency. Philadelphias 20th Pennsylvania Emergency
Regiment and First City Troop were among the militia involved with preventing the Confederate crossing
the Susquehanna River at Wrightsville, by burning the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge. Yet, the Confederate
Army was turned back at Wrightsville, Pennsylvania and at the Battle of Gettysburg. After Gettysburg,
support for the war increased. Vicksburg was a victory for the Union and patriotic feelings grew. More
people enlisted in the army. Philadelphia voted for the reelection of Republican Governor Curtin over Peace
Democrat George Washington Woodward. The Civil War caused Philadelphia to witness the rise of the
Republican Party. The draft in the city existed in 1863.
In June 1864, the Philadelphia division of the United States Sanitary Commission organized a large fair to
raise money to buy bandages and medicine. The Great Central Fair lasted two weeks, and was held in
temporary buildings covering several acres of Logan Square. Thousands of works of art were lent for
display, many donated for auction. Among the visitors was President Lincoln. The Sanitary Fair raised
$1,046,859. In the 1864 election, the majority of Philadelphians voted to reelect President Abraham Lincoln
and the four congressmen from Philadelphia. The National Union Party also gained majority in both houses
of the Philadelphia City Council. In December 1864, Philadelphia streetcar companies started to allow
African Americans on the streetcars or running streetcars specifically for African Americans. The citys
streetcars were not fully integrated until 1867 when the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a law
requiring it. Many soldiers from New England and New Jersey came through Philadelphia heading south.
Local residents formed two organizations, the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and the Cooper Shop
Refreshment Saloon, to greet arriving soldiers with refreshments and letter-writing materials. The
Washington Grays was the first Philadelphia regiment sent out of the city being a volunteer formation. It
was dispatched to help defend Washington, D.C.. The unit made it to Baltimore, Maryland, where it was
attacked by a secessionist mob in the Baltimore riot of 1861. The brigade retreated to Philadelphia, where
George Leisenring, a German-born private, died, becoming Philadelphia's first war casualty. The first
Philadelphians to encounter Confederate forces were the Twenty-third Infantry Regiment and the First City
Troop at the Battle of Hoke's Run in West Virginia. More than 50 infantry and cavalry regiments were
eventually recruited fully or in part in Philadelphia. These included the Philadelphia Brigade and the 118th
Pennsylvania Infantry, recruited and sponsored by the Philadelphia. In addition, 11 United States Colored
Troops were organized in Philadelphia.
During the war, between 89,000 and 90,000 Philadelphians were on enlistment rolls. This number includes
reenlistments and does not include African American soldiers from Philadelphia, whose enlistment
numbers are unknown. The Civil War library and Museum, which is now the Civil War Museum of
Philadelphia was founded in 18898. The oldest chartered American Civil War institution or the civil War and
Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia was founded by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of
the United State. It collects records, artifacts, and other items related to the American Civil War and the
Underground Railroad. Philadelphia's largest Civil War monument is the Smith Memorial Arch, built on the
former grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in West Fairmount Park. Designed by James H. Windrim,
and completed in 1912, it includes sculptures by Herbert Adams, George Bissell, Alexander Stirling Calder,
Daniel Chester French, Charles Grafly, Samuel Murray, Edward Clark Potter, John Massey Rhind, Bessie

Potter Vonnoh, and John Quincy Adams Ward. Philadelphias Major General George G. Meade had success
from the Battle of Gettysburg and was commander of the Army of the Potomac. Philadelphia celebrated
returning war heroes and Civil War veterans with parades. On June 10, 1865 the city held a grand review
with Meade leading veteran soldiers through the city in to a dinner at a volunteer refreshment saloon.
Another grand review of Civil War veterans was held as part of the Independence celebration in 1866. This
parade was led by another Philadelphian war hero, Winfield Scott Hancock. 44 soldiers and sailors from
Philadelphia received the Medal of Honor. They include Sergeant Richard Binder, Captain Henry H.
Bingham, Captain John Gregory Bourke, Captain Cecil Clay, etc.
The Republicans back then had many anti-slavery leaders and it created a political chance to dominate
Philadelphia politics for almost a century.

The late 19th century

After the Civil War, Philadelphias population continued to grow. Its population increased from 565,529 in
1860 to 674,022 in 1870. The citys population stood at 817,000 in 1876. The dense population areas were
not only growing north and south along the Delaware River. They were also moving westward across the
Schuylkill River. Much of the growth came from the immigrants. They were still mostly Irish and German
back then. In 1870, 27 percent of Philadelphias population was born outside the United States. By February
1854, there was the Act of Consolidation. That made the city of Philadelphia inclusive of the entire county,
doing away with all other municipalities. By the 1880s, immigration from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Italy
started to rival the immigration from Western Europe. Many of the immigrants from Russia and Eastern
Europe were Jewish. In 1881, there were about 5,000 Jewish people in Philadelphia. By 1905, the Jewish
population increased to 100,000 people. Philadelphias Italian population grew from about 300 in 1870 to
about 18,000 in 1900. The majority of the Italians settled in South Philadelphia back then. There was strong
foreign immigration. Also, there was domestic migration of African Americans from the South. This caused
Philadelphia to have the largest black population of a Northern U.S. city during this period. By 1876, nearly
25,000 African Americans living in Philadelphia and by 1890 the population was near 40,000. Immigrants
moved into the city. Philadelphia rich left the city for newer housing in the suburbs. They made commuting
easy with the newly constructed railroads. During the 1880s, much of Philadelphia upper class moved into
the growing suburbs along the Pennsylvania Railroads Main Line west of the city. The city was dominated
by the Republican Party politically. There was still voter fraud and intimidation. The Gas Trust was the hub
of the citys political machine. The trust controlled the gas company. It supplied lighting to the city;. The
board was under complete control by the Republicans in 1865. The company gave contracts and perks for

themselves and their cronies. Some government reform took place during this time. The police department
was reorganized and volunteer fire companies were eliminated and replaced by a paid fire department.
A compulsory school act was passed in 1885 and the Public School Reorganization Act freed the citys
education form the polictical machine. Higher education was changed too. The University of Pennsylvania
moved to West Philadelphia and reorganized to its modern form; and Temple University, Drexel University
and the Free Library were founded.
Later, the citys major product was the creation of the Centennial Exposition. That was the first Worlds Fair
in America which celebrated the nations Centennial. It was held in Fairmount Park. It show exhibitions like
Alexander Graham Bells telephone and the Corliss Steam Engine. It started in May 10, 1876 and the
Exposition ended on November 10. During that time period, more than 9 million people had visited the fair.
The city undertook a construction of a new city hall. It was created to match its ambitions. The project was
graft-ridden and it took twenty-three years to complete. At completion in 1884, City Hall was the tallest
building in Philadelphia, a position it maintained for nearly 100 years. During that time period, Philadelphia
industries included the Baldwin Locomotive Works,William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building
Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Westward expansion of the Pennsylvania Railroad helped
Philadelphia keep up with nearby New York City in domestic commerce, as both cities fought for
dominance in transporting iron and coal resources from Pennsylvania. Philadelphia's other local railroad
was the Reading Railroad, but after a series of bankruptcies, it was taken over by New Yorkers. The Panic of
1873, which occurred when the New York City branch of the Philadelphia bank Jay Cooke and Company
failed, and another panic in the 1890s hampered Philadelphia's economic growth. Depressions hurt the city.
Its diverse array of industries helped to weather difficult times. It had numerous iron and steel-related
manufacturers, including Philadelphian-owned iron and steel works outside the city, most notably the
Bethlehem Iron Company in the city by that name. The largest industry in Philadelphia was textiles.
Philadelphia produced more textiles than any other U.S. city; in 1904 the textile industry employed more
than 35 percent of the city's workers. The cigar, sugar, and oil industries also were strong in the city. During
this time the major department stores: Wanamaker's, Gimbels, Strawbridge and Clothier, and Lit Brothers,
were developed along Market Street.
By the end of the century, the city provided nine municipal swimming pools, making it a leader in the
nation.

Early 20th Century

During the start of the 20th century, Philadelphia had gone through changes. There was political corruption
in the city. The Republican controlled political machine was controlled by Israel Durham. The machine
dominated the city government. One official estimated that US$5 million was wasted each year from graft
in the citys infrastructure programs. The majority of the residents in Philadelphia back then were
Republicans. Yet, voter fraud and bribery were still common. The city enacted election reforms in 1905 like
personal voter registration and the establishing of primaries for all city offices. Many residents became
complacent. The citys political bosses continued in control. After 1907, Durham retired. His successor was
James McNichol. He never controlled much of the city outside of North Philadelphia. In South Philadelphia,
the Vare brothers (George, Edwin, and William) created their own organization. With no central authority,
Senator Boies Penrose took charge. In 1910, infighting between McNichol and the Vares contributed to the
reform candidate, Rudolph Blankenburg, to be elected mayor.
During his administration, he made numerous cost-cutting measures and improvements to city services,
but he served only one term. The machine again gained control. The policies of Woodrow Wilsons
administration reunited reformers with the citys Republican Party and World War I temporarily halted the
reform movement. In 1917, the murder of George Eppley, a police officer defending City Council primary
candidate James Carey, ignited the reformers again. They passed legislation to reduce the City Council from
two houses to one and provided council members on annual salary. With the deaths of McNichol in 1917
and Penrose in 1921, William Vare became the citys political boss. In the 1920s, the public flouting of
Prohibition laws, mob violence, and police involvement in illegal activities led Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick
to appoint Brigadier General Smedley Butler of the U.S. Marine Corps as director of public safety.
Butler cracked down on bars and speakeasies and tried to stop corruption within the police force, but
demand for liquor and political pressure made the job difficult, and he had little success. After two years,
Butler left in January 1926 and most of his police reforms were repealed. On August 1, 1928, Boss Vare
suffered a stroke, and two weeks later a grand jury investigation into the city's mob violence and other

crimes began. Many police officers were dismissed or arrested as a result of the investigation, but no
permanent change resulted. There was strong support among some residents for the Democratic
Presidential candidate Al Smith (who was Catholic), which marked the citys turning away in the 20th
century from the Republican Party. Also, immigrants increasingly came into Philadelphia from Eastern
Europe, and Italy. African Americans migrated from the South to Philadelphia too. There was World War I
which briefly interrupted foreign immigration. There was demand for labor for the citys factories. One
factory is U.S. Naval Yard at Hog Island, which constructed ships, trains, and other items needed during the
war effort. This helped to attract blacks in the Great Migration of African Americans. By September 1918,
there were cases of influenza pandemic. This was reported at the Naval Yard and it began to spread.
Mortality on some days was several hundred people and, by the time the pandemic began to subside in
October, more than 12,000 people had died. There has been the rising popularity of automobiles led to
widening of roads and the creation of Northeast (Roosevelt) Boulevard in 1914. The Benjamin Franklin
Parkway was developed in 1918. There were many changes to many existing streets to one way streets in
the early 1920s along with the construction of the Delaware River (Benjamin Franklin) Bridge to New Jersey
in 1926. Philadelphia began to modernize, steel and concrete skyscrapers were constructed, old buildings
were wired for electricity, and the city's first commercial radio station was founded. In 1907 the city
constructed the first subway. It hosted the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition in South Philadelphia, and in 1928
the city opened the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Great Depression and World War II

The Great Depression (which was caused by bad policies from many large banking interests) harmed
America greatly. In the three years after the stock market crashed in 1959, 50 Philadelphia banks closed. Of
those, only two were large which were: Albert M. Greenfields Bankers Trust Company and Franklin Trust
Company. Savings and loans associations also faced trouble. They had trouble with mortgages of 19,000

properties being foreclosed in 1932 alone. By 1934, 1,600 of 3,400 savings and loans associations had shut
down. Regional manufacturing fell by 45 percent from 1929 to 1933. In the same time, factory payrolls fell
by 60 percent, retail sales fell by 40 percent and construction had it payrolls fell by 84 percent.
Unemployment peaked in 1933 when 11.5 percent of whites, 16.2 of African Americans, and 10.1 percent
of foreign born whites were out of work. Mayor J. Hampton Moore was wrong to blame peoples economic
woes not on the worldwide Great Depression, but on laziness and wastefulness, and claimed there was no
starvation in the city. Soon, he fired 3,000 city workers, instituted pay cuts, forced unpaid vacation, and
reduced the number of contracts that the city awarded. These actions were unpopular with the
unemployed. The city prevented defaulting on its debts and people say that millions of dollars were
saved. The city relied on state money to fund relief efforts. Moore's successor S. Davis Wilson instituted
numerous programs financed by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal's Works Progress Administration, despite
condemning the program during his mayoral campaign. At the peak of WPA-financed jobs in 1936, 40,000
Philadelphians were employed under the program. Encouragement from the state government and labors
founding of the CIO (or the Congress of Industrial Organizations), Philadelphia became a union city. Many
trade unions used discrimination against African Americans for years and they were closed out of some
labor advances. There has been workers dissatisfaction with conditions led to numerous strikes in the
textile unions, and the CIO organized labor in other industries, with more strikes taking place. During the
1930s, the Democratic Party began to grow in Philadelphia. This has been influenced by the leadership of
the Roosevelt administration during the Depression.
A newly organized Independent Democratic Committee reached out to residents. In 1936, the Democratic
National Convention was helped in Philadelphia. The majority of voters in the city reelected the Democrat
Franklin D. Roosevelt as President. They also voted for Democratic Congressmen and state representatives.
City government continued to be dominated by Republicans, but the politicians were elected by small
margins. The beginning of World War II in Europe and the attack on Pearl Harbor caused the U.S. to be
more involved in generating new jobs in defense related industries. After the U.S. became involved in the
war in 1941, the city mobilized. Philadelphia has consistently met war bond quotas and when the war
ended in 1945. 183,850 residents were in the U.S. armed forces. With so many men serving in the military,
there had been a labor shortage; businesses and industries hired women and workers from outside the city.
In 1944 the Company promoted African Americans to positions as motormen and conductors (from which
they had previously been excluded) on public transportation vehicles. Resentful, other PTC workers
protested and began a strike that nearly immobilized the city. President Roosevelt sent troops to replace
the striking workers. After a federal ultimatum, the workers returned after six days. This was the time when
African Americans were fighting for their economic rights.

Reform
After World War II ended, Philadelphia had a serious housing shortage. About half of the citys housing had
been built in the 19th century. Many units lacked proper sanitary facilities, were overcrowded, and in poor
condition. There was the growth of competition for housing. African Americans (many of whom had come
into the city from the Great Migration of the South) and Puerto Ricans moved into new neighborhoods. This
caused some racial tension. The wealthier middle class residents (many of them were white) continued to
move out to the suburbs which would later be called white flight. Philadelphias population peaked at more
than two million people in 1950. Afterwards, the citys population declined while that of the neighboring
suburban counties grew. Some residents moved out of the region completely, because of the restructuring
of industry and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the city. Philadelphia lost five percent of its
population in the 1950s, three percent in the 1960s and more than thirteen percent in the 1970s.
Manufacturing and other major Philadelphia businesses, which had supported middle-class lives for the
working class, were moving out of the area or shutting down in industrial restructuring, including major
declines in railroads. The city encouraged development projects.
One was the University City in West Philadelphia and the area around Temple University in North
Philadelphia. It removed the Chinese Wall elevated railway, and developed Market Street East around the
transportation hub. Some gentrification occurred with the restoration of properties in historic
neighborhoods like Society Hill, Rittenhouse Square, Queen Village, and the Fairmount area. The airport
expanded, the Schuylkill Expressway and the Delaware Expressway (Interstate 95) was built. During this
time, SEPTA was created and residential and industrial development took place in Northeast Philadelphia.
Preparations for the United States Bicentennial in 1976 began in 1964. By the early 1970s, US$3 million
had been spent but no plans were set. The planning group was reorganized and numerous city wide events
were planned. Independence National Historical Park was restored and development of Penns Landing was
completed. Less than half the expected visitors came to the for the Bicentennial, but the city helped to
revive the identity of the city. It inspired annual neighbhorhood events and fairs.

In 1947, Richardson Dilworth was selected as the Democratic candidate, but lost to incumbent mayor
Bernard Samuel. During the campaign Dilwoth made numerous specific charges about corruption within
city government. The City Council set up a committee to investigate. Their findings followed by a grand jury
investigation. The five-year investigation and its findings garnered national attention. US$40 million in city
spending was found to be unaccounted for, and the president judge of the Court of Common pleas had
been tampering with court cases. The fire marshal went to prison; and an official in the tax collection office,
a water department employee, a plumbing inspector, and head of the police vice squad each committed
suicide after criminal exposures. The public and the press demanded reform. Later, the new charter
strengthened the position of the mayor and weakened the City Council. The Council would be made of ten
councilmen elected by district and seven at large.
City administration was streamlined and new boards and commissions were created. Joseph S. Clark in
1951 was elected as the first Democratic mayor in 80 years. Clark filled the administration positions based
on merit and worked to weed out corruption. Despite reforms and the Clark administration, a powerful
Democratic patronage organization eventually replaced the old Republican one. Clark was succeeded by
Richardson Dilworth. Dilworth continued the policies of his predecessor. Dilworth resigned to run for
governor in 1962. The city council President James H. J. Tate was elected as the citys first Irish Catholic
mayor. Tate was elected mayor in 1963 and reelected in 1967 despite opposition from reformers who
opposed him as an organization insider. In Philadelphia, and in other large U.S. cities, the 1960s was a
turbulent decade for the city. Numerous civil rights and anti-war protests took place. There were large
protests led by Marie Hicks to desegregate Girard College. Students took over the Community College of
Philadelphia in a sit-in. Race riots broke out in Holmesburg Prison and in 1964 riot along West Columbia
Avenue, which killed 2 people (it injured over 300 people and caused US$3 million in damages). In 1967, the
Temple Universitys Urban Archives (of Philadelphia) was created. Also, the Philadelphia Flyers NHL team
was founded too in 1967.

The Civil Rights Movement of Philadelphia

A lot of people dont know about the civil rights movement of the North. To be honest, some of the
following information is the first time that I knew of these events in my life (in 2016). Civil rights wasnt just
a Southern issue. It was a national issue and many unsung heroes in Philadelphia fought for equal rights
and human justice. The sacrifice of men, women, and children in Birmingham, Alabama, who stood up
against apartheid & oppression, was heroic. We know about Selma when courageous black people and
white people stood up against racist mobs, racist Sheriffs, and many obstacles to achieve the Voting Rights
Act. Their sacrifice will always be honored and remembered. Now, it is the time to show information about
the Civil Rights movement in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Negro is a sociological study of the African
American people of Philadelphia written by W. E. B. Du Bois. Commissioned by the University of
Pennsylvania and published in 1899, it was the first case study of a black community in the United States
and one of the earliest examples of sociology as a statistically based social science. Du Bois gathered
information for the study in the period between August 1896 and December 1896. In conducting his
research, Du Bois went house to house and conducted personal interviews with each individual head of
household. Du Bois combined his data with census data to analyze the social and economic conditions of
African Americans in Philadelphia.
During the 1910s, the Great Migration began. This was a mass exodus of African Americans from the South
into the North, the Midwest, and the West Coast. These Brothers and Sisters wanted to escape Jim Crow
oppression and seek better economic and political opportunities. The Black Southerners wanted freedom.
Yet, the more things change, the more that they stayed the same. In the North like in Philadelphia, there
was less legalized segregation than in the Deep South. Yet, racism existed in jobs and other areas.
Segregation even existed in Philadelphia during the 20th century too. It existed in Philadelphia in hotels,

restaurants, workplaces, trade unions, residential neighbors, and even schools. People successfully
desegregated Philadelphias street cars during the 1860s. The NAACP or the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People founded its local Philadelphia chapter in 1912. The Philadelphia NAACP
back then fought for the rights of black migrants coming into Philadelphia. World War I soon existed and
reactionary quota immigration laws were passed (that heavily restricted European immigration into
America). This caused massive black migrants from the South to come into Philadelphia. By 1920,
Philadelphias black population had grown to 134,220, a fifty percent increase from ten years earlier. For
the migrants, Philadelphia offered not just employment opportunities unavailable in the South, but also
freedom from the daily humiliations of Jim Crow segregation. Racial discrimination still persisted in
Philadelphia though. During 1917 and 1918, white racists attacked and murdered many black people in
Philadelphia. The violence in 1919 was called Red Summer, because of the massive bloodshed in the streets
of America (as a product of racial riots). Many black people worked in Northern industrial plants.

After World War I, many black people were pushed out of industrial jobs that they first had. Only 6.1
percent of black workers in Philadelphia were employed in the industrial sector in 1927. More black people
still migrated into Philadelphia. During the 1920s, Philadelphias black population grew another 64 percent
to 219,599. The Great Depression happened in 1929 into the 1930s. Black migration into Philly massively
declined by then to a trickle. Also, the Philadelphia NAACP worked to fight for civil rights. Civil rights
attorneys Raymond Pace Alexander and his wife Sadie T. M. Alexander successfully lobbied the

Pennsylvania Legislature to pass legislation to ban racial discrimination in public accommodations n the
state. The YPIF or the Young Peoples Interracial Fellowship was created to fight for racial dialogue among
the citys white and black congregations. Other organizations fought for racial justice too. In 1937, YPIF
evolved into the Fellowship House. This group was an interracial settlement house. They worked in
nonviolent training in North Philadelphia. Samuel Evens (in 1936) created the Philadelphia Youth
Movement. He migrated from Florida to Philadelphia back in 1920. He created many Dont Buy Where You
Cant Work campaigns along the Columbia Avenue business district in North Philadelphia. By 1937,
Philadelphia organized the NNC. This was the National Negro Congress. It was made up of a group of civil
rights, labor, religious, and left wing groups.

It was headed by the black trade union leader A. Philip Randolph. A. Philip Randolph was a famous
democratic socialist and civil rights leader. The Philadelphia chapter of the NNC, under the direction of
noted African-American educators and community activists Arthur Huff and Crystal Bird Faust, led protests
against employment and housing discrimination and worked to build alliances between the black
community and the trade union movement of the 1930's. Unions were key in the economic justice
movement. World War II saw the increase of more black people into Philadelphia. There was a demand for
labor and defense industries grew. During this time, racial discrimination existed along with new
opportunities. Racial discrimination in Philly back during the 1940s was huge. It dealt with housing,
technical services, employment, and professional jobs. Many jobs were closed to black people. The NAACP
membership increased to 16,700 in Philadelphia. Also, in 1942, civil rights, civil liberties, and religious
groups worked to fight racial and religious bias in the city. There is a photograph displaying African
American employees parading in protest of Philadelphia Transit Company at Reyburn Plaza in 1943.
In the 1944 transit strike, the Fellowship Commission and the NAACP worked as one to prevent racial
violence in the city. The strike came after wartime advances in civil rights. By June 1941, President Franklin

Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802. That banned racial discrimination in defense industries in return for
A. Philip Randolphs agreement to cancel his protest march in Washington, D.C. for racial justice.
Three years later, the Federal Committee on Fair Employment Practices Commission (known as the FEPC)
ordered the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) to integrate its workforce of bus and trolley
drivers. On August 1, 1944, the companys white workers responded by organizing a wildcat strike that
crippled the city and its vital defense industries for six days. Finally, on August 6, the Secretary of War
ordered U.S. Army units into Philadelphia to operate the buses and trolleys. For most black Philadelphians
back then, this was the first time within memory that the federal government had taken aggressive action
to defend their rights as citizens. After the war, Philadelphia enacted historic civil rights legislation.
Southern Congressmen back then blocked progressive civil rights bills on the federal level. So, Northern
states and municipalities enacted their own civil rights legislation (in a local and statewide basis) in order to
deal with discrimination and racial segregation. The Fellowship Commission and its member organizations
achieved their first major victory in 1948. This was when the Republican controlled City Council passed the
Fair Employment Practices ordinance. Their other success came 3 years later. Sadie Alexander led the
Commission to press for the inclusion of a ban on racial and religious discrimination in municipal
employment services and contracts (in the citys new Home Rule Charters). Voters supported this charter in
April 1951. The anti-discrimination provisions also provided for the creation of a new city agency. It was
called the Philadelphia Commission was elected to represent North Philadelphia on the City Council on the
same Democratic ticket. This ticket allowed the reformer Joseph Clark to be on the Mayors office. The
Republican machine of 50 years ended.

During the 1950s, change would be slow. The civil rights reforms in Philadelphia weren't bearing great
fruit. Race relations were tense. The majority of black Philadelphians were locked in the citys worst
neighborhoods at the bottom of the citys labor markets. Progress was slow. By 1953, the Commission on
Human Relations said that they would investigate racial discrimination in the citys building trades industry.
Discrimination persisted. The trades industry used government contracts and had unions. The City Charters
ban on racial discrimination in city contacts didnt stop discrimination. Even by 1963, only one African
American were part of the combined 7,300 members of the citys plumbers, electricians, and steamfitters
unions. No black worker was employed in a skilled position on a municipal construction site. As early as the

1950s, suburban housing boomed. This was part of white flight. White flight is when white people moved
from urban communities into the suburbs (while black people experienced discrimination and segregation
in urban areas). There were federally subsidized mortgages and housing, but many black people were
locked out of adequate housing. Some black middle and working class black people became middle class
during that time in Northwest and West Philadelphia (which was closed to them previously). Yet, federal
policies restricted black people going into the suburbs or the housing of their choosing. In the ten years
after World War II, only three subdivisions in suburban Philadelphia were marketed on a non-racial basis.
The population of the seven suburban counties surrounding the city grew by eighty-five percent between
1940 and 1960, while the white population within the city fell by thirteen percent. The black population in
Philadelphia grew from 1940 to 1960. Most black people lived in inner city, high density neighborhoods. By
1960, the black population in North Philly was 69 percent from 28% in 1940. The slow pace disappointed
civil rights leaders like Rev. Leon Sullivan of the North Philadelphias Zion Baptist church. He was part of the
local NAACP. So, in 1960, Sullivan created the 400 Ministers group. This was a group of black pastors to
oppose discriminatory practices in jobs. Inspired by the Southern student sit-in movement that had begun
just four months earlier (in Greensboro, North Carolina), but modeled on the Dont Buy Where You Cant
Work protests of the 1930's, selective patronage called on black Philadelphians to boycott major local
retailers, one company at a time, until they agreed to meet the 400 Ministers demands for the hiring and
promotion of black workers. They boycotted Tastykake Baking Company and met some demands in a
matter of 2 moths. Inspired by the Woolworths sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Philadelphia Youth
Committee Against Segregation pickets Woolworths stores in neighborhoods with significant black
populations in February 1960.
Philadelphias NAACP became more militant in 1963. Cecil B. Moore continued to promote the boycott
actions. They also wanted black workers to build the Strawberry Mansion junior high school. By May 1963,
people agreed to hire five black workers to skilled positions on the Strawberry Mansion site. The
Commission on Human Relations and the NAACP wanted more black employment in the skilled trades of
Philadelphia. The early 1960s to mid-1960s of the civil rights movement was characterized by activism,
coalition building, usage of the formal political process, and boycotts. The Columbia Avenue rebellion in
August 1964 was a new era of Philadelphia. 1964 saw rebellions in Harlem, Rochester, NYC, and in other
cities in America. The rebellion was a response to police brutality, racism, discrimination, and other evil
conditions in urban communities of America. The rebellion happened in August 28, 1964 when a false
rumor of a pregnant black woman being killed by the Philly police. Later, people primarily young black
Philadelphians roamed the streets of North Central Philadelphia, looting white-owned stores and
skirmishing with the police. Many people who rebelled the crowds of black North Philadelphians
responded to the calls of African-American civil rights and community leaders, including Raymond Pace
Alexander, Leon Sullivan and Cecil B. Moore, urging rioters to return to their homes. We dont need no
Cecil Moore, one rioter yelled, We dont need civil rights. We can take care of ourselves (Berson, p. 18).
The rebellion lasted for 3 days. Soon, the Black Power movement would spread across America. Many Black
Power individuals wanted community control, black empowerment, and self-determination. Some rejected
integrationalist civil rights reformism. One of the greatest events of the Philadelphia Civil Rights Movement
was the integration of Girard College. As early as May 20, 1954, the Philadelphia City Council that Girard
College should admit people regardless of race or color. Girard was stern to oppose the decision.

On August 3, 1965, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the demonstrators at Girard College
in Philadelphia. On December 16, 1965, a suit challenging Girard Colleges admissions policy is filed in U.S.
District Court by city and state officials, as well as the mothers of seven African-American boys seeking
admission to the school. The next day, picketing ends at Girard College after seven months of protests.
Protests existed just 7 months after the Columbia Avenue 1964 rebellion. Cecil B. Moore was one leader
involved in the movement. Girard is found in the heart of black North Philadelphia. The campaign to
desegregate Girard College, which peaked with seven months of daily picketing at the colleges ten-foot
high walls. A lot of young people were involved in the movement too. It would be until 1968 via a Supreme
Court decision when black people would be allowed to go into Girard College. The Girard College trustees
voted to admit African-American students to the school on May 23 and on June 24, 1968, an estimated
crowd of 600 people attend a victory rally at Girard College.
The Black Power movement in Philadelphia is not well known by a lot of people. Now, we live in a new
generation where more of the truth is shown to the public globally. From the late 1960s to the 1970s, civil
rights activity in Philadelphia was strong. Leon Sullivan used selective patronage campaigns to nonviolently
protest injustice. Also, the Black Panther Party existed in Philadelphia as well. The Black Panthers originated
in 1966 in Oakland, California. They focused on self-defense, opposing police brutality, embracing
Marxist/socialist ideological thinking, and community activism. They or the Panthers came into North
Philadelphia (with a high percentage of black residents) to create their organization in Columbia Avenue.
The Black Panthers believed in self-defense while Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference believed in proactive, nonviolent resistance against evil. Yet, groups as ideologically
diverse as the SCLC, the Black Panthers, and SNCC desired the same goal, which is freedom, justice, and
equality for black people. The Panthers advanced the Ten Point Program, which progressively wanted
housing, land, bread, clothing, justice, education, and peace. When the Panthers came into Philadelphia,
they meet with the Episcopal religious leader Paul Washington. He was the rector of the respected Church
of the Advocate. The Church of the Advocate was once mostly white and then it changed under
Washingtons leadership. His congregation was found in a Gothic cathedral at the corner of 18th and
Diamond Streets. The church would be a major meeting place of Philadelphias civil rights and Black Power

movements.
In 1968, Church of the Advocate hosted the citys Black Power Conference, bringing into its sanctuary such
civil rights leaders as Rosa Parks, Ron Karenga, LeRoi Jones (Inamu Amiri Baraka), and Jesse Jackson. In
1974, it witnessed the ordination of the Episcopal churchs first 11 female priests. And between 1973 and
1976, it installed on its walls groundbreaking mural artwork depicting the biblical narrative through the lens
of African American history. Washington allowed the Black Panthers in Philadelphia to have many events
from memorial services of national and local victims of police brutality. Washington met and talked with
Reggie Schnell or the defense captain for the groups Philadelphia chapter. By 1971, the Panthers sent a
request that the National Black Panther Party hold its Revolutionary Peoples Constitutional Convention in
the churchs sanctuary. Washington agreed with the Panthers expressing anger at the system. Yet, he
questioned whether using physical force as a way to get equal treatment under the law or enact real social
change. He still allowed the Black Panthers to use the places in the church.
Soon, additional space was needed as the crowds were bigger. Then, Temple University was used for the
Black Panther National Convention in 1971. The FBI illegally monitored and had filed on Washington, the
Black Panthers, and their supporters for years. The FBI alerted the U.S. President, Vice-President, Attorney
General, the military, and the Secret Service that Temple had agreed to make their large new gymnasium,
McGonigle Hall, available for the event. The Bureau would quickly dispatch informants to clandestinely
observe and report on the event. There was the Revolutionary Peoples Constitutional Convention on
September 5, 1970. One famous professor in Temple University of African American Studies is Professor
Molefi Asante. After a Philly cop was shot and killed by an African American male, Philadelphia police chief
Frank Rizzo overreacted and executed brutal and humiliating raids on the citys three Panther offices.
Panther leaders were jailed. Later, Panther leaders were freed. Eight thousand radical civil rights activists
and party supporters poured in Philadelphia and, over Labor Day Weekend 1970, converged on Temple
University.

Frank Rizzo was a far right person whose legacy was infamous in Philadelphia.

Further Developments
Crime was a serious problem too. Primarily drug-related gang warfare plagued the city, and in 1970 crime
was rated the city's number one problem in a City Planning Commission survey. The court system was
overtaxed and the tactics of the police department under Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo were
controversial. Frank Rizzo was known to use repressive actions against people. He was elected mayor in
1971. He was outspoken and he was reelected in 1975. He was divisive too with loyal supporters and
passionate opponents. Police and fire departments and cultural institutions were well supported under
Rizzo, but other city departments like the Free Library, the Department of Welfare and Recreation, the City
Planning Commission and the Streets Department experienced large cuts. The revolutionary black
organization of MOVE was created in 1972. It was created by John Africa. Its goal was to promote
communal black solidarity, end to police brutality, fighting racism, etc. They embraced green politics and
defense of animal rights. There was the 1978 shootout where it happened among MOVE members and
Philadelphia police officers. Police James J. Ramp was killed by a shot to the back of the neck. MOVE
representatives claimed that he was facing the house at the time and deny MOVE responsibility for his
death. Seven other police officers, five firefighters, three MOVE members, and three bystanders were also
injured. Nine MOVE members were each sentenced to a maximum of 100 years in prison for third degree
murder for Ramp's killing. Seven of the nine first became eligible for parole in the spring of 2008, but were
denied it. Parole hearings now occur yearly. Many MOVE members died in prison. The 1985 bombing is the
event that more people know about. It happened in Southwest Philadelphia.
In 1981, MOVE relocated to a row house at 6221 Osage Avenue in the Cobbs Creek area of West
Philadelphia. After the move, neighbors complained for years that MOVE members were broadcasting
political messages by bullhorn. However, the bullhorn was broken and inoperable for the three weeks prior
to the bombing of the row house. The police used arrested warrants for many issues. Mayor W. Wilson
Goode and police commissioner Gregore J. Sambor classified MOVE as a terrorist organization. On May 13,
1985, the police, along with city manager Leo Brooks, arrived in force and attempted to clear the building
and execute the arrest warrants. This led to an armed standoff with police, who lobbed tear gas canisters at
the building. The police said that MOVE members fired at them; a gunfight with semi-automatic and

automatic firearms ensued. Commissioner Sambor then ordered the compound to be bombed. From a
Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, Philadelphia Police Department Lt. Frank Powell proceeded to drop
two one-pound bombs (which the police referred to as "entry devices") made of FBI-supplied water gel
explosive, a dynamite substitute, targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house. This act
by the police was evil and it was in fact terrorism against black men, black women, and black children.

The resulting explosions ignited a fire that eventually destroyed approximately 65 nearby houses. The
firefighters, who had earlier deluge-hosed the MOVE members in a failed attempt to evict them from the
building, stood by as the fire caused by the bomb engulfed the first house and spread to others, having
been given orders to let the fire burn. Eleven people (John Africa, five other adults and five children aged 7
to 13) died in the resulting fire and more than 250 people were left homeless.Ramona Africa, one of the
two survivors, stated that police fired at those trying to escape. The MOVE Commission issued its report on
March 6, 1986. The report denounced the actions of the city government, stating that "Dropping a bomb on
an occupied row house was unconscionable. Mayor Goode had no choice, but to issue his token apology
for the crime that the police has done. No one from the city government was charged criminally but the
only surviving MOVE member, Ramona Africa, was charged and incarcerated on riot and conspiracy
charges. That was a disgrace. In 1996 a federal jury ordered the city to pay a US$1.5 million civil suit
judgement to survivor Ramona Africa and relatives of two people killed in the bombing. The jury had found
that the city used excessive force and violated the members' constitutional protections against
unreasonable search and seizure. Birdie Africa, also known as Michael Moses Ward, the only child survivor
of the 1985 MOVE bombing, accidentally drowned in 2013 in a hot tub on board the Carnival Dream while
cruising in the Caribbean. Ramona Africa acts as a spokesperson for the group and has given numerous
speeches at leftist events in the United States and other countries. Such a sad occurrence. RIP to the victims
of the MOVE bombing.
During the 1980s, crime was a serious problem in Philadelphia. There was deadly Mafia warfare in South
Philadelphia. In March 21, 1980, Angelo Bruno assassinated outside his home. The murder was
orchestrated by his consigliere, Antonio Caponigro, who was unhappy with Bruno's conservative leadership
style and had been led to believe that, if he attempted a coup, he would have the support of the Genovese
crime family. That April, Caponigro visited New York City, apparently under the assumption he was about to

be confirmed as boss. Instead, he was tortured and murdered. In 1980, the Philadelphia Phillies win the
World Series. Drug gangs and crack houses were ofund in poor communities. The murder rate
skycorcketed. William J. Green became mayor in 1980, and in 1984 W. Wilson Goode became Philadelphia's
first African-American mayor. Development continued in areas in Old City and South Street, and large
modern skyscrapers of glass and granite, designed by nationally known architects, were constructed in
Center City. City employee labor contracts signed during the Rizzo administration helped set up a city
financial crisis that Green and Goode were unable to prevent. The city was near bankruptcy at the end of
the 1980s.

There was a group of Hmong refugees that settled in Philadelphia after the end of the 1970s Laotian Civil
War. That civil war was associated with the Vietnam War. The Hmong people were attacked in
discriminatory acts. The Citys Commission on Human Relations held hearings on the incidents. Anne
Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, said that lower-class residents resented the
Hmong receiving a $100,000 federal grant for employment assistance when they were also out of work;
they believed that American citizens should be getting assistance. Between 1982 and 1984, three quarters
of the Hmong people who had settled in Philadelphia left for other cities in the United States to join
relatives who were already there. Vietnamese and other immigrants from Asia have settled in the city,
many near the Italian Market area. In addition, numerous Hispanic immigrants from Central and South
America have entered the city, settling in North Philadelphia. Ed Rendell was the mayor of Philadelphia
staring in 1992. He is well known as a political commentator on MSNBC too. He was the citys first Jewish
mayor. Back then, Philadelphia had many unpaid bills and the lowest bond rating of the top fifty largest U.S.
cities. Its budget deficit was $250 dollars. So, Rendell attracted investment in the city, stabilized the citys
finances, and produced small budget surpluses. Many parts of Philadelphia were revitalized. In 1993, a new
convention center was opened, creating a hotel boom with seventeen hotels opening between 1998 and
2000 when the city hosted the Republican National Convention. The city began promoting heritage tourism,
and producing festivals and entertainment to attract tourists. In 2005 National Geographic Traveler named
Philadelphia America's Next Great City, citing its recent revitalization and general compact cityscape.

The 21st Century

Philadelphia had many developments by the beginning of the 21st century. Former city council President
John F. Street was elected mayor in 1999. City revitalization continued into the 21st century. The Street
administration targeted some of the citys worst neighborhoods for revitalization and made considerable
progress. Tax breaks created in 1997 and 2000 helped create a condominium boom in Center City,
increasing the population of Center City and helping slow the city's 40-year population decline. The
population of Center City rose to 88,000 in 2005 from 78,000 in 2000 and the number of households grew
by 24 percent. There were struggles too. There were many scandals during the 1990s that plagued the
police department like the underreporting of crime. The Street administration was plagued with scandal,
with administration people being accused of awarding contracts based on campaign donations for Street's
2003 reelection campaign. The 2000s had a rise of violent crime after a decline in the 1990s. In 2006
Philadelphia's murder rate was 27.8 per 100,000 inhabitants versus a rate of 18.9 in 2002. In 2008, Michael
Nutter (with a background in business) was elected as the citys third African American mayor. As of July
2009, he oversaw a decrease in the crime rate by 30% since July 2007. Tourism has become one of the city's
main industries; Philadelphia is now the 10th-most visited city in the US (behind Atlanta and ahead of
Miami, Dallas, and Boston).

This is Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, PA (or the image to the left).

The Great Locations of Philadelphia

The well-known Philadelphia

Museum of Art was established in
February of 1876.This art
museums has collections of over
227,000 objects including
sculptures, paintings, drawings,
photographs, armor, and
decorative arts. Thousands of
people visit the museum each
year. Its found in 2600 Benjamin
Franklin Parkway.

This image shows the famous

Benjamin Franklin Bridge. It was
opened in July 1, 1926. It was
dedicated as part of the 1926
Sesquicentennial
Exposition,
which celebrated the 150th
anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence. It
connects Philadelphia to Camden,
New Jersey. Its total length is
9,573 feet.

The African American Museum in

Philadelphia has the following images
above. It was established in 1976. Its
purpose is to help preserve,
interpret, and exhibit the heritage of
black African Americans. It is located
in historic Philadelphia. It has 4
galleries and an auditorium. It has
more than 750,000 objects, images,
and documents. Philadelphia is home
to a great deal of black culture.

Former Mayor Nutter have done some progressive policies in Philadelphia too. Nutter was instrumental in
Philadelphia's Foreclosure Prevention Program, a program which has been copied by many cities
throughout the country to stabilize their housing and retain residents in owned units. Philadelphias
population increased under Nutter. The citys high school graduation rate has also improved, climbing from
53% in 2007 to 65% in 2014. For the first time in six years, the majority of Philadelphia residents have a
positive outlook on the city, according to a recent poll by The Pew Charitable Trust. In his administrations
extensive report released earlier this year, it was noted that violent crimes are down 17 percent since he
took office and homicides decreased by more than 30 percent over the same period. Local funding for
education increased during his term.
Nutter wasnt perfect either. He supported stop and frisk and he oversaw the dozens of public schools
being closed ironically in mostly black neighborhoods. He also was wrong to tell young black men to take
the hoodies down and buy a belt. Of course, I dont agree with that statement as I dont agree with
respectability politics and folks with hoodies have fought injustice for years. Recently, Pope Francis visited
Philadelphia in 2015. He also visited New York City and Washington, D.C. in his United States Tour. In
Philadelphia, Francis attended The 2015 World Meeting of Families, coordinated by the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Pope Francis ended his first Papal visit to the U.S. by saying mass to a crowd of
1 million people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. While in Philadelphia, Francis attended many events,

including a speech to a crowd of 50,000 people at Independence Hall and a visit and blessing at Saint
Joseph's University.

The Culture of Philadelphia

The culture of Philadelphia is diverse and magnificent. Philadelphia is a great city with a lot of black culture.
Black people, who are African Americans and non-Hispanic black people, make up 42% of Philadelphias
population and 44% when including Afro-Latino black people. Therefore, Philadelphia has a large amount of
black people. As of 2014, there are about 688,090 black people living in the city of Philadelphia. Patti
Labelle, Marian Anderson, Joe Frazier, Kevin Hart, Richard Allen, Wilt Chamberlain, Will Smith, Guion S.
Bluford, Marc Nelson, Jeremiah Wright, Alain Locke, Judith Jamison, Bilal, Boyz 2 Men, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes,
Beanie Sigel, Jill Scott, Billie Holiday, Jazzy Jeff, Sherman Hemlsey, Ed Bradley, Solomon Burke, members of
the Roots, and other Brothers and Sisters either were born in Philadelphia or have some roots in
Philadelphia. Large amounts of black people live in Germantown, North Philadelphia (of Germantown
Avenue), the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia, parts of Southwest Philadelphia, and West
Philadelphia. These neighborhoods combined have a population of about 610,000 people, which is about
82% black. It is the 4th largest predominantly black area in America after Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn,
Detroit, and South Side Chicago. Philadelphia has one of the largest ethnic African American / native black
populations in the country, tracing their ancestry to descendants of African slaves from the U.S. South.
Philadelphia has a great amount of West African people in the city too. As of 2010, there were about
25,570 people of recent African origins living in Philadelphia.

The highest number of Sub-Saharan African

populations who live in the city are Nigerians and
Liberians.
Thousands of Liberians immigrated into the
Philadelphia area because of two civil wars and
other issues in 2008. Most of the African
population is largely found in West and Southwest
areas of Philadelphia. Cedar Park neighborhood,
I have great respect for Jill Scott and her music.
She is a woman who is honest and her songs deal
on the other hand, is the only neighborhood which
with many topics like love, heartbreak, caring,
is predominately made up of West
consciousness, and life in general. She was born
Indian/Caribbean and Sub-Saharan African
and raised in Philadelphia and everyone I know
immigrants. Most Caribbean people live in West
love her music or heard of her music. Recently,
Philadelphia with a smaller amount in Southwest
she married a man and I congratulate her on her
and Northeast sections. As of 2010, there were
marriage. She is not only a gorgeous black
24,608 people of West Indian ancestry living in
woman, but she has inspired so many people in
Philadelphia, representing about 1.6 percent of the
the world with her words, music, and actions. She
city, the vast majority of which are Haitians and
gives inspiration to a generation of women to see
Jamaicans. Though, the number of West Indians
their inner beauty and to love their human dignity.
balloons when including other areas in the
She has told many truths about relationships and
Philadelphia metropolitan area are included and
she has always shown love to the Brothers too. We
not just the city itself. The Philadelphia area has
send great respect and love back to Jill Scott.
one of the largest Jamaican populations in the
Bless you Sister Jill Scott.
country. Most West Indians live in West and
Southwest Philadelphia. Jamaicans and Jamaicans
are near equal in population. Jamaicans live mostly in West Philadelphia. Haitians are found in many
neighborhoods too including the Trinidadians and Bajans (those who ancestry comes from Barbados).

Music and Philadelphia go hand in hand. The pictures of Teddy Pendergrass, Gamble and Huff
(who are songwriters and producers), Sister Sledge, and Zhane. All of them are from
Philadelphia. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. We are imitated, but we can never be duplicated of our
souls and our creative energy. We believe in celebrating, cultivating, and enriching our culture
forever.
African American culture is found prominently in Philadelphia. There is the African American Heritage:
Freedom Trail where visitors can retrace the paths of the Underground Railroad. The Blue Horizon is a place
where weddings, receptions, meetings, community meetings, and other occurrences take place. The
Johnson House Historic Site is the place where it was a famous Underground Railroad location. It was a
known meeting place for Harriet Tubman and William Still (who were great abolitionists). There is the
Marian Anderson Historical Residence is found memorabilia and rare photos of the great singer Marian
Anderson. Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church was founded by Richard Allen in 1731. It is a cultural staple in
Philadelphia and it stands on the oldest parcel of land in American continuously owned by African
Americans. It is the mother church of the African Methodist and Episcopal Denomination. Its found in 6th
and Lombard Streets. The Reading Terminal Market is an authentic farmers market in Philly that has have
cheesesteaks and soul food. Ms. Tootsies Soul Food Caf for Southern comfort cuisine. This charming BYOB
features down-home cooking in an upscale atmosphere and has a private dining space available for groups.
African Art is found in museums in Philadelphia too. They include the: the African American Museum in
Philadelphia, the All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was
the nations first major museum designed by a black architect. The Warmdaddys, Chris Jazz Caf, and
World Caf Live has performances from people doing blues, jazz, and gospel music. There is the Freedom
Theatre or one by Philadanco, Philadelphias premier African American modern, contemporary dance
company at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Dee Dee Sharp, Chubby Checker, the Dovelles, the

Tymes and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells epitomized the excitement of the music in the sixtees. The Soul
Survivors, the Intruders, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Archie Bell and the Drells made Philadelphia an
important city for soul music. In the late ninetees, the Disco Biscuits were formed in the city, which
advanced the music of jam bands in the country.

Hispanic culture in Philadelphia is vibrant. As of 2010, there are 187,611 Latinos. They consist of over 12
percent of the population. Most Hispanic people in Philadelphia are Puerto Ricans. Many of Philadelphia
Hispanics identify themselves as white, black, biracial, or other. In the early 20th Century companies such
as the Railroad and Spanish-speaking immigrant networks attracted Spanish-speaking workers to
Philadelphia. By 1910, several Latino and Hispanic groups had resided in Philadelphia. Cubans and
Spaniards founded and initially lead the Latino and Hispanic community organizations. Due to the
Immigration Puerto Ricans, who were already U.S. citizens, became the predominate Hispanic group and
had taken control of the organizations by the 1950's. Other Latino and Hispanic groups began establishing
themselves by the 1960's. By 2005, most of the leadership of Hispanic groups in Philadelphia are Puerto
Ricans and some non-Puerto Ricans are leaders too. Over 120,000 Puerto Ricans live in Philadelphia. Most
of them live in eastern North Philadelphia. Massive Puerto Rican migration to the city came about since the
1950s. In fact, the Fairhill section of Eastern North Philadelphia, particularly the blocks between 6th street
and B street, north of York street and south of Erie avenue, have some of highest concentrations of Puerto
Ricans in the country, with most blocks usually being around 85-90% Puerto Rican alone. There is the
growth of El Centro de Oro in Fairhill. Dominicans and Mexicans are found in Philadelphia too. More
immigration came into Philadelphia by Dominicans after 1990.
The vast majority of Dominicans live scattered in Lower Northeast and eastern North Philadelphia
especially north of Erie Avenue, sharing neighborhoods with the city's larger Puerto Rican population. Some
live in West Philadelphia. Mexicans have lived in Philadelphia since the 19th century and their population
now is over 15,000 people. Most of them live in South Philadelphia east of Broad Street. As of 2011 most
Mexicans in South Philadelphia originate from the state of Puebla. Mexican immigrants have drastically
changed the Italian Market area in South Philadelphia and have set up a small community in and around
the market. Mexicans are the third largest Hispanic community. Cubans, Colombians, Guatemalans,
Hondurans, etc. live in the city of Philadelphia as well. The annual Feria del Barrio is one of the largest
celebrations of Latino art and culture in the city. There is free music, dance, and art that takes place on the
sidewalks of the historic Centro de Oro neighborhood where a great amount of Latino culture is in
Philadelphia. There are the Mexican Independence Day Festival and the Puerto Rican Day Parade in
Philadelphia too. Puerto Rican muralist Betsy Casaas owns the Gallery in 124 Diamond Street. It has visual
arts, music, speech, and dance. Restaurants that show Hispanic culture is everywhere in Philadelphia.
Orlandos Art Gallery is found in 433 Girard Avenue where artwork is found made by Hispanic human

beings.
Many European immigrants traveled into Philadelphia. Many of them live in Northeast Philadelphia and in
Northwest Philadelphia. Irish populations live in the North and Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods like
Fishtown, Kenisngton, Mayfair, etc. Many of the Irish by the 1960s were known to join the Philadelphia
Police Department and the Philadelphia Fire Department. Italians lived in South Philadelphia heavily.
Philadelphia has the 2nd largest Italian American population in the United States. Polish Americans have a
huge history in the Port-Richmond Bridesburg area including the areas of Kensington and the Northeast.
Groups such as Lee Andrews and the Hearts and Danny and the Juniors were Philly-based Rock & Roll
groups in the late fiftees. Soloists such as Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell were idolized by teenagers
across the country.

Vietnamese people, Chinese people, and Korean human beings live in Philadelphia. In several decades
before 2010, the cost of living in Chinatown increased due to an influx in settlement, so Asian Americans
began moving to other neighborhoods in northwestern Philadelphia, northeastern Philadelphia, and South
Philadelphia. As of January 22, 2010, according to David Elesh, a Temple University urban sociologist, there
were almost 60,000 Philadelphia residents who stated that they were born in China and many of them lived
in South Philadelphia. A group of Hmong refugees had settled in Philadelphia after the end of the 1970s
Laotian Civil War. There is even a small Native American community known as Lenapehoking for LenniLenape Native Americans of West Philadelphia.

By Timothy