Executive Director’s Message

Written by in the Black History and Culture category and the December 1977 issue Topics in this article:
Black History and Culture is a special edition of 15 features devoted to the history and heritage of African Americans in Pennsylvania, from the American Revolution to World War II, published December 1977.

This issue of Pennsylvania Heritage, I am pleased to say, is devoted to the study of Pennsylvania’s Black community from the American Revolution to World War II. It suggests two themes – mass migration to Pennsylvania from the South and the subsequent Black struggle for survival and expression in an indifferent and oftentimes hostile world. I think it shows the importance of two Black institutions – the church and the family – in insuring that expression and survival.

In collecting and editing the fifteen essays for this issue we have had much help. I especially wish to thank Dr. Cyril Griffith, professor of history at The Pennsylvania State University, for serving as consulting editor for Pennsylvania Heritage and Charles Blockson of Norristown for helping us obtain the illustrations we needed to bring this issue to press.

William J. Wewer
Executive Director