The event includes a tour of the arboretum grounds, highlighting the pond and Secret Garden. Gourmet tea will be provided and served by Tea Country, along with a brief expert brewing demonstration. Light refreshments will be served as well.

The Black History Month Tea at Awbury Arboretum is free and open to the public. For more information or to RSVP call  215-849-2855 x 25.

Ora Washington (right) holding trophy for her win at the Pennsylvania Open, 1939 (courtesy of ExplorePAHistory.com)

Ora Washington may have been one of the world’s greatest tennis players. We’ll never know because racial prejudice prevented her from ever proving her talents in national competition.

Washington was born in Virginia and moved to Germantown in her early teens, as her family sought greater opportunity in the North. She didn’t begin playing organized sports until she was nearly 25 when she took up tennis at the Germantown YWCA.

Washington’s tennis career included twelve doubles, three mixed doubles, and eight singles crowns. Helen Wills Moody, a white tennis champion, held many women’s tennis records at the time but she refused to play Washington. It’s a match that the tennis world will never stop wondering about.

Washington’s athletic skills were not limited to tennis. She was also a distinguished basketball player, beginning with the Germantown Hornets and later the Philadelphia Tribunes. Washington’s agility and talents were highly commended and widely recognized.

Deborah Norris Logan (from 'Sally Wister's Journal')

On Thursday March 1st at 12:30 p.m., Stenton will host Sacred and Inviolable’ Sally Wister and Deborah Norris Logan: Female Friendship and the Roots of Salon Culture, a lecture exploring friendship between Quaker women. This program will be presented by Rebecca Rosen, a doctoral student at Princeton University.

In a culture in which religious ties were also social and educational, relationships between women and girls combined expressions of friendship with literary exchange. Sally Wister and Deborah Norris Logan exemplified this typical 18th century female friendship amongst Pennsylvania Quakers.

This event is free. Feel free to bring a bag lunch. Please RSVP by calling 215.329.7312.

John Trower, from NAACP's 'The Crisis, May 1911

Building a successful business from the ground up is no small feat. For an African American man born in 1849, it’s rather remarkable.

Born in Virginia, John Trower worked on a farm alongside his family until age 21 when he had accumulated enough money to settle the mortgage. He then moved to Baltimore where  he worked as an oyster-opener. By 1870 Trower was working in Philadelphia in his own restaurant near the railroad.

It wasn’t long before his business grew and Trower bought the vacant Germantown Savings Fund building, located at 5706 Germantown Avenue, and converted it into a first-class catering establishment. Aside from the wealthy families of Germantown, Trower’s catering company also provided banquets and luncheons for the Cramps Ship Building Company during the trial runs of new vessels. When John Wanamaker was serving as Postmaster General, Trower prepared a lavish banquet for him in U.S. capital.

Not only was Trower a business success, but he was also a philanthropist. Trower financed the building an African American church in Ocean City and Zion Baptist Church in Germantown, as well as organizing a building and loan association for African Americans. Trower’s great success made him one of the wealthiest African Americans in Philadelphia and a pilar of his community.

The Johnson House, circa 1867

What is the difference between protest yesterday and today? What impact does protest have on society? What was the impact of the Civil Rights Movement? Students addressed these questions in the Annual Freedom Essay Contest sponsored by the Johnson House. This year’s contest commemorates the 324^thAnniversary of the Protest Against Slavery, the first formal protest which was composed by a group of Quaker men in Germantown in 1688.

Prizes will be presented to first place winners and runners-up on February 26th, 3-5 p.m. at the Johnson House.

Coach Jim Ellis, a renowned swim coach, will be honored at this event for his commitment to the education and  social development of children.

This event is free. Call 215.438.1768. or e-mail aneal@johnsonhouse.org with questions.

W.E.B Du Bois (courtesy of www.biography.com)

Since 1976, the federal government has officially dedicated the month of February to remembering the achievements and contributions of African Americans, a concept introduced by Carter Woodson in 1926 as Negro History Week. In 1928, Germantown held its own celebration of Negro Achievement Week.

The week-long program included presentations from speakers, artists, musicians, writers, and community leaders. Notable contributors included Alain Locke, James Weldon Johnson, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Amongst the published works of Du Bois is The Philadelphia Negro, an unprecedented study of African American urban life.

(click for enlarged image)

According to the archived program for the week, Du Bois spoke on “Contributions by the Negro to American Life.” This speech reflected the contemporary method of promoting the status of African Americans by highlighting their cultural and historical contributions.

Du Bois published many essays concerning the advancement of African Americans and was also the founding editor of the NAACP magazine, The Crisis. In his writings, Du Bois gave much attention to the right to vote, recognizing its power to bring about social reform and racial equality. In a 1905 essay entitled “The Black Vote of Philadelphia,” Du Bois analyzed the politics of Philadelphia, condemning corrupt government’s influence over the inexperienced and uneducated black voters.

Although he grew up with more opportunity than many of his fellow African Americans, Du Bois recognized the limitations imposed upon him and others of his race. Attending Fisk University in Nashville, he was exposed to the cruelty and corruption of Southern whites.  W.E.B. Du Bois, guided by his experience and education, was one of the most passionate and eloquent advocates for social justice in America.

Mother Bethel A.M.E. (courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia)

Richard Allen was born enslaved on a plantation owned by Benjamin Chew in February 1760. He and his family were sold to Stokely Sturgis, a plantation owner in Delaware.  Allen began attending meetings at the local Methodist Society and due to a spiritual experience converted at age 17. Allen worked to hire himself out and ultimately earned enough to purchase his own freedom from Stokely Sturgis.

Having taught himself to read, Allen became a preacher at St. George’s, America’s oldest Methodist church located in Philadelphia. As the congregation’s black membership increased, the segregation dismayed Allen. He and his friend Absalom Jones led their fellow black worshipers out of the church in protest.

Richard Allen (courtesy of www.christianitytoday.com)

Because he wanted to remain a Methodist, Allen founded Mother Bethel and became the minister. He preached throughout the region in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Multiple congregations combined with Mother Bethel to form the new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Richard Allen was elected the first bishop of the A.M.E. Church and what started as a regional phenomenon has become a worldwide faith community.

Allen’s impact extends well beyond religious institutions. He founded benevolence societies and his tireless demands for equality and equal treatment helped pave the long road for civil rights for African Americans.

In describing Mother Bethel, W.E.B. DuBois the founder of the NAACP once noted that it was ”By long odds the vastest and most remarkable product of American Negro civilization.”

On Saturday, February 18th at 1 p.m., Stenton will be hosting Freedom Bound: African American Women in 18th and 19th Century Philadelphia, a lecture and discussion examining the rocky road to emancipation experienced by the majority of African American women in the 18th and 19th century urban North.

This program is free. Please call 215.329.7312 or e-mail programs@stenton.org to RSVP.

Dinah was an enslaved servant of William (James’s son) and Hannah Logan, but around 1776, she asked for and was granted her freedom, though she remained a hired servant of the household.

Dinah is remembered on a plaque at the still-standing Stenton house, and visitors are told the story of her cleverness. During the occupation of Philadelphia, Dinah had been minding the estate when she spotted two British soldiers scheming to burn the mansion. As the soldiers were in the barn gathering straw, Dinah saw an officer riding along the main street in search of deserters. Dinah caught his attention and told him that she had seen two men who appeared to be deserting enter the barn. The soldiers were quickly apprehended, their plans of arson foiled.

Cliveden, circa 1910 (courtesy of ExplorePAHistory.com)

In 1814, a series of events led Charity Castle to become one of the best remembered cases under the Gradual Abolition Act.

Charity Castle accompanied her mistress Harriet Chew to her parents’ home at Cliveden. Amidst marital troubles, Harriet decided to extend her stay in Germantown. Charles Carroll Jr., Harriet’s husband, demanded that Charity be returned. She pleaded to not be sent back, claiming abuse on the part of Carroll. A few days short of her planned return to Maryland, Charity was severely injured while retrieving fire wood, delaying her departure.

For months, letters were exchanged amongst the families, doctors, and lawyers, regarding the incident, all documented in the extensive Chew Family Papers. There was much disagreement regarding Charity’s fate. Finally Carroll conceded to sell Charity to her husband for $300.

Despite the lengthy letters, the mystery remains unsolved as to whether Charity Castle gained her freedom or was sent back to Maryland.

“Accident made her a Slave, accident made her free, and it seems right that she should avail herself of it.”        – William Lewis, a lawyer arguing in favor of Charity’s freedom