MAGA orders Philly exhibits on slavery torn down. We at BSR are not afraid of our history.

Inquirer reporting confirmed that this removal was indeed due to the Trump administration’s attempt to suppress slavery from Americans’ historical education. There will be plenty of ways to fight this despicable act of erasure, individually and collectively (look for more from BSR on this), but one thing we can all be sure of is that the Trump administration can’t wipe the truth from our own minds. Check out this cross-section of BSR articles affirming Black history in Philly—and the Black Philadelphians who are making history today.

Heroes at sea and on land

How about Black naval heroes of the Civil War? Check out our reviews of Kidnapped at Sea: The Civil War Voyage of David Henry White, or Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls.

Want to dive into the life of one of the people the Trump cabinet wants to erase? Order Erica Armstrong Dunbar’s Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. Want to get that into the hands of the kiddos? We reviewed the edition for young readers, too. Bonus: pick up Dunbar’s latest book, Ida B. Wells: Journalist, Advocate, and Crusader for Justice.

Real American history in Philly-area museums

We recently reviewed a new exhibition on view the Museum of the American Revolution, The Declaration’s Journey, up through January 2027. In her coverage, critic Constance Garcia-Barrio reflects honestly on the ways the Declaration has lived up to its ideals, and the ways it has not.

In her trenchant review of Winterthur Museum’s Almost Unknown, The Afric-American Picture Gallery, critic An Nichols reflects on “a growing museum trend to highlight middle-class Black culture from the 19th century to today,” including most recently at the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Delaware Art Museum.

“Without Black people, Philadelphia simply would not be.”

Want to read more Philly-centric Black history? Open up our review of Amy Jane Cohen’s Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape: Deep Roots, Continuing Legacy. Critic Dr. Lindsay Gary recommends the book:

“Cohen’s reader gains unshakable understanding that Black Philadelphia is Philadelphia, just as Black history is indeed American history: Black history is ingrained into every part of this city, and without Black people, Philadelphia simply would not be. And if Philadelphia were to ever live up to its nickname as the City of Brotherly Love, it would undoubtedly be because Black Philadelphians made it so.”

“The full scope of the movement”

In 2021, BSR associate editor Kyle V. Hiller reflected on MLK Day, and America’s history of miseducation. He says we shouldn’t lose sight of the full scope of our own civil-rights journey:

“Most Americans are taught the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, and maybe John Lewis and Fannie Lou Hamer if you were lucky. Their legacies are essential, but we rarely catch glimpses of the full scope of the movement—who were the 'little' people, the unsung heroes, who impacted and influenced us, or paved the way for famous figures? If we grew up learning about them, would we know what we, our own moment’s unsung heroes, can do to make social change? Even more fundamentally, would we know that change is possible?”

Making history today

Philly’s Black history is not just in the past. It’s happening today. Find it in the pages of BSR.

Philly playwright James Ijames won a Pulitzer. You have three chances to see his work locally this season. Media pioneer Maori Karmael Holmes has reshaped the film world with Philly’s own BlackStar Film Festival. Read her 2023 interview with Kyle. Nicole Jordan, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s first full-time Black librarian, was behind a recording of music by Florence Price (an early 20th-century Black woman composer almost lost to history) that won a Grammy in 2022. Read our interview with Jordan. Opera Philadelphia composer-in-residence Nathalie Joachim says we’re “a historic music city.” Get to know her in this profile by Maria Thompson Corley.

These are a tiny sample of the Black stories and Black writers alive in the pages of BSR. The articles are free to read anytime, anywhere in the world. We’re going to keep it that way.