The History of Black Philadelphia

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Lucien Blackwell was one of the most beloved and powerful Black politicians in the history of Philadelphia.Born in Whits...
09/03/2026

Lucien Blackwell was one of the most beloved and powerful Black politicians in the history of Philadelphia.

Born in Whitsett, Pa., on Aug. 1, 1931, he moved to Philadelphia as a young boy. He dropped out of West Philadelphia High School in 1950 and began working as a laborer on the city docks for $1.88 an hour.

After serving in the U.S. Army from 1953-54, Blackwell, a veteran of the Korean War, returned to Philadelphia and was ultimately elected president of the Local 1332 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, a position he held until 1991. He entered politics in 1973 when he was elected to the Pennsylvania state legislature.

In 1974, he was elected to Philadelphia City Council, representing West Philadelphia. Across his 16 years as a city councilman, he was a fiery, fist-pounding, sharp-tongued advocate for Black people, children, the homeless, and the poor. He is credited with helping Black Americans gain political power in Philadelphia and changing how Black Americans were treated in politics.

Blackwell championed legislation that ensured that minorities get their fair share of city contracts and called for the creation of a police oversight commission. He sponsored a bill banning discrimination against women in renting, helped gang members turn their lives around, and fought for improved living conditions for people in public housing.

Famously, there was always a long line of people waiting outside his office looking for his assistance on matters big and small. No one was turned away.

In 1991, Blackwell was elected to the U.S. Congress. He served for two terms until he was defeated by Chaka Fatah.

The consummate Democratic party insider and the political godfather to a succeeding generation of politicians, Black and white, Blackwell encouraged both former Mayor John Street and former U.S. Congressman Bob Brady to run for office, and he served as Street’s most trusted adviser during his first term.

Blackwell died on Jan. 24, 2004, at age 71. More than 4,000 mourners waited in line for more than an hour to pay their respects.

Caroline Still Anderson was an educator, civil rights activist, and one of the first Black female physicians in America....
07/27/2026

Caroline Still Anderson was an educator, civil rights activist, and one of the first Black female physicians in America.

Born free in Philadelphia on Nov. 1, 1848, she was the eldest daughter of abolitionists William Still – most famous for his work on the Underground Railroad – and his wife Letitia.

After graduating from the Institute for Colored Youth at age 16, Anderson enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1864. In 1868, after receiving her degree, she returned home to Philadelphia and became a teacher.

Anderson later moved to Washington, D.C. and taught music, drawing, and elocution at Howard University while attending Howard University College of Medicine. In 1878, she earned her medical degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (now a part of the Drexel University College of Medicine).

Subsequently, she applied for a medical internship at Boston’s New England Hospital for Women and Children, but she was initially rejected because she was Black. After visiting the city and meeting with the board in person, they reconsidered.

In 1880, Anderson married the Rev. Matthew Anderson. After her medical internship concluded, she opened a private practice and a medical clinic at her husband’s house of worship, Berean Presbyterian Church. She also practiced medicine at Quaker institutions in Philadelphia.

In 1899, Anderson assisted her husband in establishing the Berean Manual Training and Industrial School (or the Berean Institute). She served as its assistant principal for 30 years and also taught public speaking, hygiene, and physiology.

Active in her community, Anderson was a member of the Philadelphia branch of the Women’s Medical Society and was a board member of the Home for Aged and Infirm Colored People of Philadelphia. She was also president of the Berean Women’s Christian Temperance Union and helped organize the first Colored Young Women’s Christian Association in Philadelphia.

Anderson passed away in June of 1919 at age 70. She is buried in Eden Cemetery, where her parents also eternally rest.

The Berean Institute was founded in 1899 by the Rev. Dr. Matthew Anderson to provide Black Philadelphians with training ...
06/23/2026

The Berean Institute was founded in 1899 by the Rev. Dr. Matthew Anderson to provide Black Philadelphians with training in the skilled trades, especially those who had migrated to the city from the South. (Most white trade unions in the city barred Black people from joining.)

Located at 1901 W. Girard Ave., the Institute, officially known as the Berean Manual Training and Industrial School, originally offered courses such as cooking, tailoring, dressmaking, carpentry, plumbing, vocal culture, and home management. The school enrolled 30 students at its opening, but had 150 students within a year of operation and more applicants than space. The first teachers came from Drexel Institute.

Courses were offered in the day and evening in fall, spring, and summer terms, and were open to men and women of all ages and skill levels. Applicants had to be “of good character.”

By 1919, Berean had graduated hundreds of students and provided them with good-paying jobs when most Black people were day laborers or worked in low-skilled positions.

Over time, the Institute added courses in cosmetology, data processing, stenography, electronics technology, court reporting, business administration/accounting, and executive-secretarial work. It also offered GED programs and helped prepare students to attend a four-year college.

In 1959, Berean added a Puerto Rican Center to help Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community improve their English literacy skills.

Berean underwent a $3 million renovation in 1971 that added a new classroom building, gymnasium, library, cafeteria, student union building, and dormitory.

Through the mid-to-late 1980s, Berean enrolled hundreds of students annually. Most were Black high school graduates in their late teens to mid-20s. It had a job placement rate of between 78 and 89 percent, and 17 percent of students went off to college. Graduates were employed by companies such as IBM, SEPTA, Woolworth’s, the Veterans Administration, the Board of Education, Haverford College, Continental Bank, and Shop ‘n’ Bag.

Poor management and accounting practices, a decline in state funding, and accreditation issues caused the Institute to begin to disintegrate around the turn of the century.

Berean closed in 2012.

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.

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