Extending The Philadelphia Negro
By recording oral histories with older Black residents of Philadelphia and developing curriculum materials for high school and college students, we invite a new generation to reimagine how Du Bois’ research methods and arguments about class and racism apply to the world they have inherited.
Oral Histories
Our growing collection of oral histories feature the life stories of African Americans who lived in or near the Seventh Ward. Several of the initial oral histories focus on members from Tindley Temple United Methodist Church and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church who reflect on the role of the church and how the neighborhood has changed over time.
Samuel Joyner
Samuel Joyner (born February 7, 1924), one of the few African American political cartoonists in the country and historians of comic art, published his first cartoon in the Philadelphia Tribune as an elementary school student. The Samuel R Joyner Papers are archived at the Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Elizabeth Spann
Elizabeth Gary Spann is a lifelong member of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of September. She was raised in Philadelphia and has lived all of her life. Elizabeth’s husband, John, one of the first Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents of color, passed away in 1994. They have four daughters from their union.
Doris M. Reddick
Doris M. Reddick (born September 21, 1931), a native of Stone Harbor, NJ, she grew up hearing about Tindley Temple and Mother Bethel and moved to a house in Philadelphia just a few blocks from Tindley. She retired as a school community coordinator for the Philadelphia school district.
