The Emergence of Black Religion in Pennsylvania, 1776-1850

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Emergence of Black Religion in Pennsylvania, 1776-1850 The emergence of Black churches at the beginning of the nineteenth century was crucial to the survival of Black people in Pennsylvania and in the North because it provided two key resources. First, it provided a sense of meaning and destiny grounded in hope. Secondly, the Black church provided the institutional base for the economic, social, and political struggle of Blacks, including the...
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One Should Not Overlook Union County

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on One Should Not Overlook Union County Union County on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River is one of Pennsylvania’s smaller counties, encompassing a bare 258 square miles, with a population of 30,000, including 3000 college stu­dents and 1900 inmates of two federal prisons. Few of its residents have held high political office and fewer of its names have appeared in Who’s Who in America. Yet the historical...
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Talented, Tragic and Triumphant: The Life and Career of Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Talented, Tragic and Triumphant: The Life and Career of Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones It was a time in the American art world when young women artists rarely sold their work for what equaled a small fortune. It was a time when women were sepa­rated from men during their artistic training. It was a time when women seldom shared the limelight with men when winning awards. But in the opening years of the twentieth centu­ry, while the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean still hushed...
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A Modest Fountain on the Square

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Modest Fountain on the Square The modest appearance of a squat granite fountain hunkered along the curb on the south side of Philadelphia’s Washington Square belies its noble history. The fountain, which began in a much grander form on the opposite side of the square in 1869, was the first project of a sweeping movement that would adorn the city’s streets and quench the thirst of its residents, both man and beast. It was the...
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