1838BlackMetropolis

1838BlackMetropolis Reclaiming, Restoring, and Rewriting the lost & forgotten histories of the Black-Antebellum community from the greater Philadelphia Area

04/14/2026

For America’s 250, we refused a simple celebration.

We chose to ask a harder question—how was democracy actually built?

And then we chose to answer it the only way that made sense: from the ground up.

We built curriculum rooted in place, in people, in practice.
We placed it in the hands of teachers so it could move beyond us.

We centered students—because they have always been at the center of this story.

We opened the door through the Institute for Colored Youth.

We brought Octavius Catto and Caroline LeCount into the room—not as distant figures, but as presence, as challenge.

We carried this work into schools. Then into the streets.

Over 350 students walked the Black Metropolis—
tracing the ground where democracy was being built in real time.

And we brought them to Mother Bethel—
not just as a site, but as a living record of what it means to build anyway.

To organize anyway.
To claim space anyway.

Now, we bring it all together.

A graduation.
A public examination.
A return to a tradition that never disappeared—only waited to be remembered.

This is not just history. This is practice. This is ICY.

Get your tickets now; link in bio.

💫 Collab Shoutouts

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

School District of Philadelphia

Mother Bethel

Black Journey Walking Tour

One of our joys when talking about 19th-century Philadelphia, is its deeply multicultural and African diasporic. In 1838...
03/30/2026

One of our joys when talking about 19th-century Philadelphia, is its deeply multicultural and African diasporic. In 1838 Black Metropolis, we see powerful examples of allyship and ancestors who carried dual identities.

In celebration of this shared history, our cofounder and lead curator, Morgan Lloyd (Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape), recently led a curated tour for the team at We Are the Seeds. The tour highlighted historic solidarity between local Indigenous communities and the growing Black population, brought forward Algonquin history that remains hidden in plain sight, and explored archival connections across our communities. It also honored the resilience of Afro-Indigenous families…especially those who remained in their ancestral homelands rather than being displaced along the Trail of Tears, and who continue to navigate the layered impacts of settler colonialism across their identities.

One powerful example comes from our recent research into Harriet Jacobs’ journey to Philadelphia. Along the way, she stayed with the Durham family, who came from of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation from present-day New Jersey and Delaware.

Read more on our Harriet Jacobs blog.
( http://bit.ly/4s0Ij3i )

03/07/2026

✨ What happens when a young person sees themselves in the past for the first time?

For 2026, we wanted students to see that history is not distant. It belongs to them.

So we brought two graduates of Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth back into the classroom. Through historical reenactment, students met Caroline LeCount and Octavius Catto and heard them reflect on what it was like growing up in Philadelphia in the 1850s and 1860s.

This week our reenactors visited Mastbaum, SLA Beeber, and Olney High School, where students asked thoughtful questions and went deep into the history.

🎥 Footage courtesy of the Mastbaum Film & Video Program supported by WHYY

Huge thanks to Ms. Walker, Dr. Kenney, and Ms. Zieve for making this possible for their students.

And deep gratitude to the Philadelphia Funders Collective and the School District of Philadelphia.

Because when students meet the young people who came before them, the past suddenly feels alive and the story becomes their own.

📍 Philadelphia
📚 Institute for Colored Youth

PublicHistory 1838BlackMetropolis TeachBlackHistory HistoryMatters

Good Day, Everyone! 🙏🏾 Tomorrow, we gather at the historic Mother Bethel AME Church for a powerful conversation on The B...
02/28/2026

Good Day, Everyone! 🙏🏾 Tomorrow, we gather at the historic Mother Bethel AME Church for a powerful conversation on The Black Religious Experience in the Colonial Period. We’ll explore how Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and the institutions they built became cornerstones of freedom, civic life, and Black institution building in America — and why that legacy still matters today. Free & open to all. 📍419 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia | 🕐 1–3 PM | March 1, 2026.

02/28/2026

We are so excited and proud that Dr. Stephanie Joy Tisdale will be presenting tomorrow at the School District’s Black History Month conference. ✨

🖤 Her session begins at 12:10 PM — and it’s FREE.

In this climate, it can feel increasingly difficult to access and teach true Black history. Tomorrow is an opportunity to change that.

Dr. Tisdale will introduce our FREE Black Metropolis / Melvin Garrison Curriculum, exploring Philadelphia’s free Black community from 1770 through 1870 — history that built this city.

When young people are nourished with real history, something shifts.

It strengthens their sense of who they are. It roots them. It fills them. It gives them a deeper, steadier sense of identity.

This curriculum is already being used by Freedom Schools, churches, families, and classrooms across the city.

Come hear this history.
Learn this history.
Teach this history.

Join us tomorrow at Martin Luther King High School. 🖤

Join the movement to restore our history. Monday!
02/13/2026

Join the movement to restore our history. Monday!

02/11/2026

9th and Lombard was liberation HQ in the 19th century. First the Creole affair was motivated by picture of Cinque in Robert Purvis’ house at this location in 1841 (See or blog on that). And in 1858 John Brown, Henry Highland Garnet, William Still, and Stephen Smith met at Stephen Smith’s house. they were probably talking about the upcoming raid on Harper‘s Ferry. This is just one of those incredible spots that will be visiting and talking about on our new Arrivals tour which will launch in the spring.

Michiko’s article in the Inky today. 🙏🏽Rann Miller helped organize a group of us to share our view during Black History ...
02/06/2026

Michiko’s article in the Inky today. 🙏🏽Rann Miller helped organize a group of us to share our view during Black History month. We think the the headline says it all. From the founding of America, the Black community in Philadelphia was honoring, experimenting, wrestling with, and developing Democracy- testing how seriously America actually was about what it had written down. These efforts demonstrated to America how to engage in protest and action to uphold the rule of law.

🔗 in bio

02/06/2026

explains the energy that we feel when we walk the spaces the ancestors walked. This is why we say that we reclaim these spaces because energy never dies, and we say their names in these spaces so that we can come closer to vibrating along with them, this is a belief, a core belief of 1838 Black Metropolis.

We are in deep appreciation to brother Umoja and sister Dr walls for the invite into this program and for the Love. Thank you! 🙏🏽

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