This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

A Free Walking Tour Featuring West Chester's historic African-American Community

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the famous civil rights march on Washington, author Catherine Quillman leads a guided tour featuring sites related to Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin.    It starts at 5 p.m. on Wednesday evening, August 21st  at the Chester County Historical Society  (225 N High St) in West Chester. 

Tours are about an hour long and will include the 21 sites found in the recent publication, Walking the East End, Part 11: A Historic African-American Community in West Chester, Pennsylvania.  

A book signing follows at 6:30 p.m. Catherine Quillman and  co-author,
Sarah Wesley, will be on-hand to personalize your book.   The 125-page book includes a pull-out map and an extensive appendix listing early black residents and former slaves.

The public is welcome to come out, meet the authors, and be the first to own a signed copy of  Walking the East End, Part 11 (Hedgerow Press), the first comprehensive guide to the borough’s historic African-American community. 
Read more about the book  here: http://quillman-publications.com/2013/01/03/walking-the-east-end-part-two/

As it is described in the book’s introduction,  West Chester’s most successful black-owned enterprises – Burns’ Great Oyster House, Spence’s Restaurant, and  the Ganges’ Ice Cream and Confectionary Shop – thrived at a time of explosive growth,  in the 1850s and the 1900s.  

Other sites might be described as those associated with the Underground Railroad  and Civil Rights activism including the movie theaters and restaurants where Bayard Rustin challenged West Chester’s white community to uphold its liberal heritage.

“Uptown,” as residents of the East End still call the neighborhood along East Market Street, includes one residential area: South Walnut Street.  The beautiful Victorian homes are representative of those built by craftsmen for the artisan and working classes including black residents. Part of the area was developed in 1844 by Robert Mercer, who came to West Chester as an orphan bound to a Swedish shoemaker.  The region’s first Presbyterian church built for African-Americans is also located here

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?