Black Bottom was a predominantly
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
and
poor neighborhood in
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. It was mostly razed for
urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
in the 1960s.
[Dr. Walter Palmer's Blackbottom Project](_blank)
/ref>
Location
Black Bottom sat between 40th and 32nd streets in West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...
. Sources[Dr. Palmer's Student's wordpress site]
Black Bottom
/ref>[ Mosaic depicting Black Bottom at University City High School] disagree on its northern and southern boundaries, but the neighborhood is generally understood to have been north and separate from the campus of the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and south of the Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
and Powelton Village neighborhoods. At least one source says "Black Bottom" was understood to mean blocks north of Lancaster Avenue, while blocks south of it were referred to as "the Bottom".
Before it was called Black Bottom, the area was once part of or overlapped places called Blockley
Blockley is a village, civil parish and ecclesiastical parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about northwest of Moreton-in-Marsh. Until 1931 Blockley was an exclave of Worcestershire.
The civil and ecclesiastical parish ...
, Hamilton Village, West Philadelphia Borough, and Greenville. Following the displacement of thousands of residents in the 1960s, the area is now considered to be a part of West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...
's University City.
History
In the decades preceding Philadelphia's consolidation in 1854, the area was home to taverns and businesses catering largely to the stagecoach and cattle droving trades. After the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, it developed into one of West Philadelphia's affluent streetcar suburbs. The University of Pennsylvania moved there in 1870. After World War I, wealthier residents moved further west into West Philadelphia and its suburbs, leaving neighborhoods in eastern West Philadelphia in decline. The relative availability of cheap housing in the area attracted many African Americans, including migrants from the Southern States, who faced housing discrimination elsewhere in the city.
Urban renewal
The University of Pennsylvania had expanded as far north as Walnut Street by 1920, but in 1959, Penn, Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...
, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (University of the Sciences or USciences) was a private university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. USciences offered bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in pharmacy and other health-related dis ...
, and Presbyterian Hospital sought to create large-scale redevelopment in the area to eradicate blight and develop a " University City" neighborhood of residences and services for students, faculty and staff. Together, they created the West Philadelphia Corporation and acquired large numbers of properties for demolition.
The first major clash between Black Bottom residents and the white institutions came in 1963, over the plans to build a science magnet high school on 7.6 acres of land in Unit 3 between 36th and 38th Streets, along Market Street (Reid et al, 1997). Black residents believed that very few of their children would gain entrance to the magnet school, which was being designed for the children of the faculty, staff, and graduate students of Penn and Drexel. Construction of the magnet school, to be called University City High School, would also displace families and individuals living in that section of Area 3.Black Bottom: Community displacement
(Student research website)
Portions of the area were eventually declared blighted by the city, and remaining properties were purchased by eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
. The final buildings were demolished by the late 1960s. The number of displaced residents is estimated between 4,496 and 15,000 by various sources.
Former Black Bottom residents celebrate Black Bottom Day on the last Saturday in August in Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with ...
.
See also
* University City Science Center
The University City Science Center (UCSC) was established as the first and largest urban research park in the United States. It was established in 1963, within the demolished Black Bottom neighborhood of Philadelphia, now known as University Cit ...
* University City High School (Philadelphia)
University City High School was a public secondary school in the University City section of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, which operated from 1972 to 2013.
The school was planned for as part of a 1960s urban renewal project. I ...
* Nearby neighborhoods:
** Walnut Hill
** Spruce Hill
External links
The Corporation: "A New Concept for Old Neighbors"
* ttps://theblackbottom.wordpress.com Site created by Dr. Palmer's students
References
{{WPhila
African-American history in Philadelphia
Neighborhoods in Philadelphia
University City, Philadelphia