Explore Community Stories
Preserving Philadelphia Family Histories
Preserving Family Histories is an ongoing community archiving series that provides community members with tools to preserve their unique family histories and raises awareness about the importance of preserving individual and collective memory in areas like Philadelphia that are undergoing redevelopment, gentrification, and mass displacement. Explore the family photographs, documents, and other records of Philadelphia community members, and listen to oral histories of the family histories related to these materials.
Odunde Festival
The Odunde Festival is a Black Philly institution. Founded in 1975 by the late educator and visionary, Lois Fernandez, Odunde is the largest African American cultural festival in North America, hosted annually on South Street in the historic Seventh Ward.
West Philadelphia High School
West Philly High is one of the oldest public schools in Philadelphia. In 2011, the school district closed down its historic location and turned the building into luxury lofts.
Listen to testimonies from alumni at the annual “WestFest” class reunion in August 2019 and learn more about the fight to preserve this beloved institution.
Black Resistance Tour of Philadelphia
On July 13, 2018, RBP collaborator and MOVE Archive Director, Mike Africa, Jr. led a “Black Resistance Tour of Philadelphia” on a school bus to preserve the memory of important sites of Black resistance across the city.
View videos and itinerary of the tour, including the site of the 1978 police raid of MOVE headquarters in Powelton Village, the 1985 MOVE Bombing in Cobbs Creek, the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia, and more.
Germantown
Listen to street interviews with Germantown residents describing what sets this neighborhood apart from the rest.
