Oral History Project in Chester

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Oral History Project in Chester In July, 1977, I concluded a series of oral history interviews with elderly members of the Black com­munity in Chester, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission as part of its oral history program, I secured approximately twenty­-five hours of taped interviews from twenty respondents. The average age of the interviewees was probably seventy years. They came...
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Southern-Born Blacks in Harrisburg, 1920-1950

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Southern-Born Blacks in Harrisburg, 1920-1950 Beginning in 1974, John Bodnar, Chief of the Division of History of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, some six other inter­viewers, and I have been taping the rich store of memories and experience that is the possession of Pennsylvania’s ethnic, minority, and working-class groups. This material can provide answers to some important historical questions, among them the...
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The African-American Clan

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The African-American Clan Recent publications and media presentations have spurred an unusual interest in genealogical research. This enthusiasm extends from the academic community to large numbers of lay people who are attempting to retrace their roots. As is well known, genealogical research in its simplest form results in the ability to construct a blood-line tree that presents the kinship relationships between people...
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How to Uncover Black Family History

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on How to Uncover Black Family History Genealogy has replaced astrology as America’s favorite topic at social gatherings. Several factors are responsible in sparking the present upsurge in Black genealogy. The civil rights movement of the 1960’s encouraged a feeling of Black solidarity that had not existed before. Marches, demonstrations, and mass jailings brought together diverse elements of the Black community and made...
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Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania Blacks constituted a sizable core of workers in the iron and steel industry of western Penn­sylvania between 1900 and 1950. Most had migrated to the Pittsburgh vicinity from the agricultural South during the two World Wars in hopes of improving their economic plight by obtaining jobs in area mills and foundries. However, racial discrimination prevented the majority of them from advancing beyond...
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Black Cultural Development in Pennsylvania: Since 1900

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Black Cultural Development in Pennsylvania: Since 1900   The cultural history of Blacks in America is varied and diverse. At the same time, it is deeply inter­woven into the whole of America’s cultural fabric. Yet, the significant cultural contributions of Black Amer­icans have been overlooked. Because of this omission, it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the art of Afro-Americans began to receive the recognition...
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The Black Press in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Black Press in Pennsylvania I The Black press in Pennsylvania played a leading role in the struggle for Afro-American freedom in the pre-Civil War period. After the war, Afro-American tabloids in the Commonwealth were among the first newspapers to call for the civil rights and enfranchise­ment of Afro-Americans in the South and North. Fre­quently, editors of these newspapers became elected politicians and they used their...
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Blacks and the Labor Movement in Pennsylvania: The Beginnings

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Blacks and the Labor Movement in Pennsylvania: The Beginnings I It is important to understand the relationship be­ tween Black and white labor from the time of slavery to the Civil War in order to understand the position of Blacks in the early labor movement. Since the early trade unions were primarily for skilled workers, the elimination of Blacks from the skilled trades helps explain their absence from the unions. In addition, the conflict between white...
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The Search by Blacks For Employment and Opportunity: Industrial Education in Philadelphia

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Search by Blacks For Employment and Opportunity: Industrial Education in Philadelphia I Historian Sol Cohen describes the industrial­-education movement at the end of the nineteenth century as an effort to relegate the new immigrant to the lower levels of society. Placing emphasis on the “status rivalry” between the middle-class progressives and the new immigrant, Cohen views industrial education as the means used by the progressives to keep the immi­grant in his...
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An Introduction to the Special Issue

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on An Introduction to the Special Issue This special issue of Pennsylvania Heritage is an attempt at an extended treatment of the life of Black people in Pennsylvania from the American Revolution to World War II. Its chief aim is to trace several aspects of Black life – economic, social, and cultural – in a single issue, and to show how changes in each of the aspects were integrally related to developing Black family and...
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