Dr. Kenneth A. Salaam (b. March 23, 1949), also known as "Freedom Smitty, " was raised in North Philadelphia and was a member of the NAACP Youth Council under the leadership of Cecil B. Moore. As a teenager, Dr. Salaam participated in the Columbia...
Mel Dorn (b. January 5, 1945) grew up on Columbia Avenue and lived in North Philadelphia during the 1964 race riots. Mr. Dorn discusses the difficult economic conditions within the community and the tensions between residents and police that helped...
Karen Jordan (December 19, 1948- ) grew up in North Philadelphia near Girard College and participated in the NAACP protests at the school between 1965 and 1968. Ms. Jordan gives her recollections of the demonstrations and the police response, as...
Richard "Sonny" Driver is the founder of Scoop magazine and lived in North Philadelphia during the 1964 Columbia Avenue riots. Mr. Driver reflects on race relations in North Philadelphia and shares his recollections of the riots, changes to the...
Bernyce Mills DeVaughn (January 10, 1948- ) grew up in Norfolk, Virginia before moving to Philadelphia in the 1960s. Ms. DeVaughn participated in the NAACP protests at Girard College between 1965 and 1968 and shares her memories of the...
Eugene Dawkins (December 16, 1944- ) grew up just outside the walls of Girard College and was not only witness, but an active participant in the protests to end educational segregation there in 1965. Mr. Dawkins also participated in the earlier...
Richard Watson (March 24, 1946- ), a North Carolina transplant, spent his formative years in North Philadelphia just a few blocks south of Columbia Avenue. Mr. Watson recalls his experiences living in the city at a time when neighborhood gangs were...
Augustus Baxter (b. December 25, 1928) worked as a "gang worker" in North Philadelphia counseling at-risk youth during the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Baxter discusses living conditions in North Philadelphia before the 1964 Columbia Avenue riots and the...
Large multi-family dwellings. Porch on either side of building in center. Additions on ground floor in back. Stacks of wood. Ground littered with debris. Laundry hangs on clotheslines. Outhouse on far right. Trees. Utility poles and power lines.
Rear elevation. Pieced together building materials to form home. Rough exterior of cinder block and wood planks. Rags cover holes in structure. Screen door, window frames, and other building debris litters back yard. Couch and chair sits in back....
Rear elevation of dilapidated house. Girl with child stands in doorway. Back addition sags. Broken windows. Dilapidated backdoor steps. Wood barrel piled with debris next to back door. Washtub sits on stool. Leaning pole. Wood debris litters...
Wooden fences mark the areas of back yards. Outhouse with open door in yard in the foreground. Trash on ground and on roof of platform in back of first yard. Large brick buildings in background and right side of yards.
