The Latest

Sometimes we stumble upon incredible stories from the past and this was one was soooo good, we had to bring it to you in it's unadulterated format. It's a story of a deeply felt inspiration; one that led to the liberation of hundreds...inspired by the viewing of a portrait at 918 Lombard Street. It's the story of how one successful slave ship uprising encouraged another. And it's a story about how Black Philadelphia supported and grew worldwide liberation in the mid-1800s

I wasn't looking for Charles Black when I opened The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution . I was preparing for a public program...

Tucked inside a worn old book in the from 1844 is something incredible: a library catalog from the African Zoar Methodist Episcopal...

Melvin with the Jacob C. White collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. We only knew Melvin for a couple of years. But the...

We're spotlighting books about young people in 1800s Philadelphia that open a window into daily Black life.

Note: All manuscript pictures below are courtesy Pennsylvania Abolition Society Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania Some stories...

Note: Except where noted, this history sources from The Rise and Progress of Shiloh Baptist Church, written by Franklin A. Guinn in 1905. ...

1838 Black Metropolis is happy to welcome guest writer Michael Clemmons, Secretary of the Black Docents Collective and member of Mother...

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Designed by Julian Abele. Image Courtesy Conde Nast Traveler Julian Abele (1881–1950) stands as one of the...

The Rise and Progress of Shiloh Baptist church is the gift that keeps on giving. This is a church history that is told as an...

Imagine that it's 1871 and you've just come from class at the Institute for Colored Youth. As you walk east you see Francis Ellen...

Bix, Rix, Toy Makers, and the Spy!?! Hey Peeps! 👋🏾 We're just hopping on your feed to say in our 1838 census finding aid we just found...

We are so excited to be a new member of the National Park Service's Reconstruction Network. We know that the spatial stability of the...

We often come across stories that move us deeply in this research. But this one was a surprise. I was looking for the 'Philadelphia...

While exploring the Daughters of Africa dues book, I found the a title of a Beneficial Society that we cannot find records of: The...

A brief history on unsung heroes James and Eliza Bias.

170 years ago today, Freedom Seeker John Walker arrived in Philadelphia. All arrivals had teams of people to help them and in this case...

This is a breaking news blog post. This morning, Morgan posted the story of Lear Green on Instagram. There is also one more unamed...

The most miraculous thing that has happened to me this year was when my co-Founder Morgan Lloyd started lifting people out of the records...

Besides having the most powerful 19th century name I've ever heard, Hetty Reckless was a hero. Yesterday, we stood at 7th and Lombard and...