The History of Black Philadelphia

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In 1985, a group of investors led by New York businessman J. Bruce Llewellyn and Philadelphia 76ers great Julius “Dr. J”...
03/07/2026

In 1985, a group of investors led by New York businessman J. Bruce Llewellyn and Philadelphia 76ers great Julius “Dr. J” Erving purchased the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Philadelphia, which created the first Black-owned Coca-Cola bottler in the country and one of the nation’s five largest Black-owned businesses. Llewellyn acquired majority interest for around $80 million (around $243 million in 2026 money) while Erving procured a smaller portion.

Llewellyn made his fortune as a lawyer and as owner of Fedco Foods Corporation. His investor group bought Philadelphia Coke from Coca-Cola of New York and Coca-Cola USA. He was previously chairman of the Philadelphia subsidiary of New York Coke, a member of New York Coke’s board of directors, and – like Erving – a New York Coke shareholder. Erving was also a Coca-Cola spokesman. After the purchase, Llewellyn became chairman and CEO of the independent Philadelphia Coke. At the time of the acquisition, the company had annual sales of more than $100 million and was one of the country’s largest bottling operations.

The late Rev. Jesse Jackson helped bring about the purchase. In 1981, Jackson’s Operation PUSH reached a trade agreement with Coca-Cola to provide more involvement of Black Americans in the organization since Black people were such large consumers of the soft drink (soda accounts for 30.4% of total beverage consumption among Black youth).

Philadelphia Coke’s 26-acre plant is located at 725 E. Erie Avenue in Juniata Park. It produces 1,700 bottles per minute. During their 21 years of ownership, Llewellyn’s group increased yearly sales fivefold from $100 million to $540 million, and doubled the number of employees from 600 to 1,200. Forty percent of employees were members of a minority group. The company was one of the largest manufacturing employers in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Coke also grew to the third-largest Black-owned business in America behind TLC Beatrice Holdings (Reginald F. Lewis’s company) and the Johnson Publishing Company.

In 2006, an aging Llewellyn, recovering from heart surgery, sold his controlling interest in the company back to Coca-Cola.

Austin, Giles, Moll, Paris, Richmond, Christopher Sheels, Joe Richardson, Hercules Posey, and Ona Judge were the nine en...
02/11/2026

Austin, Giles, Moll, Paris, Richmond, Christopher Sheels, Joe Richardson, Hercules Posey, and Ona Judge were the nine enslaved Black people forced to work at the President’s House at Sixth and Market streets while President George Washington resided there in the 1790s.

The President’s House served as the executive mansion from 1790-1800 while the White House was under construction. Its slave quarters were steps from the entrance of what is now the Liberty Bell Center.

Austin, the half-brother of Judge, was forced into labor as a horseman. Giles was a driver and horseman. Posey was Washington’s chief cook. Moll was a nursemaid to Martha Washington’s two grandchildren. Paris was a stable hand. Richmond was Posey’s young son. Sheels was George Washington’s personal attendant. Richardson was a horseman. Judge was a seamstress and Martha Washington’s personal maid.

In 1780, Pennsylvania passed the Gradual Abolition Act. It did not free anyone, but allowed enslaved Black people held by visitors of the state to claim their freedom after six months. Washington, aware that his enslaved Black people could use this law to claim their freedom, began rotating them out of Pennsylvania in order to keep them in bo***ge.

Nonetheless, Washington’s enslaved Black people still searched for freedom. Posey escaped in 1797. Judge escaped to New Hampshire in 1796. For years, Washington tried to recapture them both, but they were able to evade his clutches. Sheels attempted to escape in 1799, but was caught. He was with Washington at his death.

Austin and Paris died in 1794. Giles returned to Mount Vernon, the Washingtons’ vast estate and plantation in Virginia, in 1791 and died before 1799. Moll, Richmond, and Joe Richardson also returned to Mount Vernon.

Together, George and Martha Washington owned or rented 317 enslaved Black people. George Washington’s will freed 123 of them. The rest belonged to the Custis estate and remained enslaved, passed down to Martha’s grandchildren. The Washington and Custis enslaved Black people had intermarried, so this split separated husbands from wives and children from parents. Black families were distraught and heartbroken.

Contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, Black Catholics in Philadelphia were not always welcome at white Catholic chu...
12/13/2025

Contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, Black Catholics in Philadelphia were not always welcome at white Catholic churches. From the 1700s through the 1950s, Black Catholics who did attend white churches were subjected to segregation and isolation, in seating and even in receiving the sacraments. In the face of such ungodly behavior, Black Catholics sought their own place of worship, and established one in 1892: St. Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church at 12th and Lombard streets.

Archbishop Patrick John Ryan officially dedicated the church on Jan. 3, 1892. Funding was provided by Katherine Drexel, other benefactors, and parishioners. St. Peter Claver grew into the mother church for Black Catholics in Philadelphia, attracting worshippers from all over the city. In 1906, the church added a Catholic school. Along with traditional academics, the school featured a basketball team, a volleyball team, a boxing club, music and cooking classes, and a Black history course.

Much like Black protestant churches in the city, St. Peter Claver was more than just a church; it was a meeting place and cultural center for the Black community. Black people were barred from most white social institutions in Philadelphia, so in addition to baptisms, marriages, and funeral masses, St. Peter Claver played host to plays, concerts, benefits, dance and orchestral performances, fashion shows, music recitals, and other community events.

As Catholic schools and churches in the city began to desegregate, enrollment at St. Peter Claver Church and School began to decline. By 1984, the school only had 88 students, and by 1985 church membership had dropped to 300. Blaming shifting populations and the gentrifying neighborhood, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia closed the school in 1984 and the church in 1985 – but Black parishioners, who accused the Archdiocese of overlooking, devaluing, and mistreating the church and Black Catholics in general, refused to leave.

St. Peter Claver continued to operate until 2014, although not as a sanctioned Catholic church. The Archdiocese officially closed the building in 2023. It is in the process of being sold.

From the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 through the mid-1930s, Black Philadelphians were hardcore Republican...
11/05/2025

From the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 through the mid-1930s, Black Philadelphians were hardcore Republicans – because as far as the Black community was concerned, the Democratic Party was a terrorist organization.

Philadelphia was ruled by a Republican machine from the late 1800s until 1952, and Black voters were an integral part of the machine’s power. Elite Black men were members of the Citizens Republican Club of Philadelphia, founded in 1884.

In the mid-1930s, Black Philadelphians began to split their vote between Republicans and Democrats, due to the New Deal policies of Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt, which provided jobs for Black people during the Great Depression. Black Philadelphians also believed the Republican Party was taking them for granted and ignoring their interests.

Jaded by widespread corruption and 50 years of one-party Republican rule, Philadelphia as a whole abandoned the local GOP in the early 1950s and supported what was then a Democratic reform movement in the city. From the 1950s to 1971, Black Philadelphians largely supported the Democratic Party. (Until 1964, a sizable portion of Black Americans continued to vote Republican; Eisenhower received 39% of the Black vote in 1956 and Nixon received 32% of the Black vote in 1960.)

Black Philadelphians returned to the GOP in 1971 in opposition of Democratic mayoral nominee Frank Rizzo, who many Black people viewed as racist. Black voters supported Republican nominee Thacher Longstreth in 1971 and either Independent nominee Charles W. Bowser or Republican nominee Thomas M. Foglietta during Rizzo’s successful reelection campaign in 1975.

In 1979, Black Philadelphians once again switched sides to support Bowser in the Democratic mayoral primary. City Councilman Lucien Blackwell ran on the Consumer ticket and picked up votes as well. Both were unsuccessful. Bill Green won the Democratic primary and mayorship.

Since the election of Wilson Goode, the first Black mayor, in 1983, Black Philadelphians have blindly supported the Democratic Party, even supporting Goode in 1987 after he dropped the bomb on MOVE (although he did run against Rizzo.)

Never in the history of Philadelphia have Black Philadelphians made either party earn their vote.

In the 1800s, Stephen Smith was one of the wealthiest Black men in America. He made his fortune by way of Smith, Whipper...
07/19/2025

In the 1800s, Stephen Smith was one of the wealthiest Black men in America. He made his fortune by way of Smith, Whipper & Co., one of the largest lumber and coal operations in Pennsylvania. Headquartered in Columbia, Lancaster County, it had offices in Philadelphia.

Smith was born enslaved in 1795 in Dauphin County, Pa. (Pennsylvania had slavery through the 1840s.) In 1861, at age 21, he purchased his freedom and entered the lumber business.

Quickly, his company became profitable and sprouted into one of the largest lumber yards along the Susquehanna River.

His success caused great envy and hatred among Columbia’s white residents. In 1834, an anti-Black mob tried to shut his business down. Smith endured, but grew tired of the threats and harassment and moved to Philadelphia in 1842. He and his wife Harriet resided at 921 Lombard St.

Smith continued to manage his lumber business while in Philadelphia, and used his wealth to uplift the city’s Black community. He donated money to Black churches and schools, purchased a Black cemetery, and funded the construction of a Black public hall.

Also a key figure in the city’s Underground Railroad activities, Smith was a manager of the American Anti-Slavery Society and a cofounder of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee.

Active in real estate, Smith amassed a portfolio of more than 100 properties, including 52 houses in Philadelphia, numerous houses in Lancaster County, and several properties in Cape May, New Jersey, including a hotel and summer home.

In 1864, Smith helped establish the Philadelphia Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored People – the first home for elderly Black people in America. Originally located at 340 S. Front St., it moved in 1869 to 4400 W. Girard Ave., on land donated by Smith.

It was later renamed for Smith and is still in operation today.

Smith died on Nov. 14, 1873. At the time of his death, his estate was valued at more than $200,000 (around $5 million in 2025 money). He is buried in Eden Cemetery.

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