This story originally appeared on The Philadelphia Tribune.
Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties section is using Black History Month to highlight the neighborhood’s deep, historic roots.
The area’s Business Improvement District has announced that it’s launching two activities to celebrate its history.
“We have such a rich history in this neighborhood,” said Northern Liberties Business Improvement District (NLBID) executive director Kristine Kennedy. “Much of it has been forgotten by modern Philadelphians, but Black History Month is the perfect time to bring some of it back to life.”
There will be an audio walking tour focused on the neighborhood’s Black history and a project called Window Stories, which will encompass “a series of vinyl window clings that tell the stories of Black residents who lived in Northern Liberties in the 1800s,” according to a news release.
The two activities are intended as complementary pieces meant to facilitate a stroll that will take participants on a loop around the neighborhood, focusing on historic locations and presenting Northern Liberties’ Black history.
In creating the audio tour, cursory research into the neighborhood led Kennedy into digging deeper into Black history in Northern Liberties.
“I kept trying to learn more about the Underground Railroad, but only found vague platitudes. I wanted to know about the people and places that were a part of it. So I dug into census data and the personal accounts such as those captured by William Still,” Kennedy said.
Original source can be found here.
