PRINTER'S NO. 529
No. 38 Session of 1987
INTRODUCED BY HARPER, IRVIS, WIGGINS, ROEBUCK, ACOSTA, JOSEPHS,
RICHARDSON AND OLIVER, FEBRUARY 24, 1987
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, FEBRUARY 25, 1987
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to
2 approve the grant application submitted by the Afro-American
3 Historical and Cultural Museum.
4 WHEREAS, The Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum
5 (AAHCM), located near Philadelphia's Independence Mall has been
6 open to the public since 1976; and
7 WHEREAS, The museum has two basic but far-reaching goals:
8 (1) To provide all members of the community with well-
9 documented and relevant portraits of the Afro-American
10 experience in Pennsylvania and to further place the world of
11 Black Pennsylvania in the broader framework of a geographical
12 and spiritual diaspora.
13 (2) As an Afro-American institution in American society,
14 to promote a crucial perspective that Afro-American has been
15 and continue to be active participants in the making of their
16 own histories and in the growth and development of the
17 American republic; and
18 WHEREAS, Afro-Philadelphians have made noteworthy
1 contributions to the arts, science, religion, education and
2 politics locally and nationally. Many neighborhoods were used as
3 depots on the underground railroad. In the 19th century,
4 Philadelphia was the acknowledged cultural mecca for African
5 Americans. Frank Johnson, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield and
6 Richard Allen garnered innumerable firsts in the areas of music,
7 performance and religion. Throughout the centuries and even more
8 recent decades, Philadelphia's neighborhoods (such as
9 Holmesburg, Germantown and South Philadelphia) were home for
10 many prominent Black Americans including singers Bessie Smith,
11 Marian Anderson and Ethel Waters, activist Paul Robeson,
12 educator Octavius V. Catto, architect Julian Able, sailmaker
13 James Forten and scholar-reformer W.E.B. Dubois. To date limited
14 research has shown that the residences of many of these
15 individuals are in states of dispair and/or their locations have
16 not been identified. Several noted historians are currently
17 involved in individual research, but there has been no
18 coordinated effort. With the current trends of housing in
19 Philadelphia towards rehabilitation and the unfortunate process
20 of recycling that has affected many of our neighborhoods, much
21 of the history of the city may be lost. It is necessary to
22 compile existing information and research and identify
23 historical sites in order to preserve the physical presence of
24 African Americans in the city and make that presence visible
25 through tours, publications, and exhibits; and
26 WHEREAS, The AAHCM has submitted a grant application to the
27 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for financial
28 support for a thematic survey of sites in Philadelphia that are
29 part of the city's Afro-American history. With the immediate
30 project goal of research and identification of the places,
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1 buildings and districts important to Philadelphia's black
2 heritage or instrumental in the black community's development.
3 The final goal is to use this documentation to prepare
4 nominations to the historical markers and historic places
5 programs as well as in the presentation of public programs; now
6 therefore be it
7 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives hereby urge the
8 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to approve this
9 grant application for the reasons given above; and be it further
10 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be immediately
11 transmitted to each member of the Pennsylvania Historical and
12 Museum Commission.
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