Where History Lives: From The Gilded Age to the 7th Ward by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

                                        

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been watching HBO’s The Gilded Age and absolutely loving all the nods to my city of Philadelphia and its deep, enduring Black history. I was especially thrilled to hear references to the Institute for Colored Youth, where one of the show’s characters attended school, and to towering figures like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. The Institute would later become Cheyney University, my beloved alma mater. Another Philadelphia gem is Erica Armstrong Dunbar, an esteemed historian and author, who is also co-executive producer of The Gilded Age.  

Well, this past Sunday, I put my boots on the ground to discover some of this history first-hand with a guided tour designed by The Black Journey; African-American Walking Tour of Philadelphia.   

Our tour began at Mother Bethel AME Church, an  historic church, founded in 1794 by Rev. Richard Allen. Built on the oldest U.S. land continuously owned by African Americans, it remains a powerful symbol of faith and justice. Here, Kenyan scholar Benard Koech listens as historian Mijuel Johnson shares Rev. Allen’s legacy

This public history tour group offers a variety of themed walking tours exploring Black history in Philadelphia. I took the 7th Ward Tour, led by the incomparable Mijuel Johnson, a gifted, young, Black-American public historian. I invited Kenyan academic Benard Koech  on the tour.  He is a Mandela Washington Scholar currently studying at Drexel University this summer. I wanted him to experience this legacy and to witness young Black historians like Johnson carrying that torch forward. I know how rare it is for visitors, and even many Americans, to be exposed to the full richness of Black American life, resistance, and contribution. 

Mural in progress on the historic home

of William Still (1821–1902), famed abolitionist

and Underground Railroad conductor,

and his daughter Dr. Caroline Still Anderson 

(1848–1919), a pioneering Black physician and 

educator.

I was deeply moved when we stood in front of William Still’s house, the Father of the Underground Railroad. I got goosebumps just being there, especially seeing the new mural being painted, of him and his daughter, on the side of his home. Then we visited the space where the Institute for Colored Youth once stood, and I couldn't hold back tears. I was standing on sacred ground, part of a legacy I carry as a Cheyney graduate.

     Site of the original Institute for Colored Youth, founded
 in 1837 by Quaker philanthropist Richard Humphreys.
This pioneering school laid the foundation for what would
 become Cheyney University of Pennsylvania; the nation’s
 oldest historically Black college (HBCU). 

This tour was astounding. 

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911),

poet, abolitionist, suffragist, and

one of the first African American women

to be published in the United States.

Philadelphia’s famous Seventh Ward was a thriving, multicultural neighborhood, which was home to many Black Philadelphians and immigrants from the late 1700s through the 1960s. By 1900, nearly 30% of Black Philadelphians lived in the ward. It was the beating heart of Black Philadelphia, filled with schools, churches, abolitionists, educators, athletes, and activists. It’s no wonder W.E.B. Du Bois came here to conduct his groundbreaking sociological study in 1899-The Philadelphia Negro. He lived among the residents, going door-to-door to capture the lived realities of Black life in America’s first great Black metropolis.

Yesterday’s walk was a full-circle moment. The history we carry is not just in books. It’s in our streets, our walls, our hearts. And it’s still unfolding.

The mural “Mapping Courage: Honoring W.E.B. Du Bois and Engine #11” is located at the corner of 6th Street and South Street in Philadelphia’s historic Seventh Ward. Painted on the side of the former Engine 11 firehouse which is a significant site as the city’s original Black fire company. This stunning public artwork commemorates Du Bois’s groundbreaking 1899 sociological study, The Philadelphia Negro, and the vibrant Black community that once thrived in the 7th Ward.

Click link to explore the full range of walking tours 

https://www.blackjourneyphiladelphia.com/

It was deeply moving to encounter so many historical markers which are public links to the past that honor the lives, struggles, and achievements of those who came before us. Among them, the marker for the Benjamin Banneker Institute, founded in 1854, stood out as a testament to Black intellectual life in Philadelphia, where members like Octavius Catto and Jacob C. White Jr. fostered civic leadership and debate.