7th Ward (Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, Octavia Hill housing)

6th and Lombard Street is just beyond what was technically the edge of the western ede of the 7th Ward of W.E.B. DuBois's famous survey. But the reach of the African American community he studied extended beyond those strict municipal boundaries. In this vicinity, we find still standing today Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, Engine 11 fire house, and additional sites of Octavia Hill-sponsored affordable housing. For further information about the history of this entire area, see The Ward website (listed below) and its own walking tour.

Further Reading:

Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church on Philadelphia Encyclopedia: https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/mother-bethel-ame-church-congregation-and-community-2/

Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church on PhilaPlace.org (Historical Society of Pennsylvania): http://www.philaplace.org/story/59/

Hillier, Amy, and Stephanie Boddie. The Ward: Race and Class in DuBois’ Seventh Ward. http://www.dubois-theward.org/
7th Ward Walking Tour: http://www.dubois-theward.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/New_Walking_Tour_2011.pdf

On Playgrounds and Starr Garden in Philadelphia Encyclopedia:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/playgrounds/
(Starr Garden was established in 1881, the seed of which would become Philadelphia’s first municipal playground and recreation center)

On low-income housing in urban renewal in this area:
Francesca Russello Ammon, “Resisting Gentrification Amid Historic Preservation: Society Hill, Philadelphia and the Fight for Low-Income Housing,” Change Over Time 8, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 8-31, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/717926.

Image Source:
This photograph of "Negro Quarters" is probably from the Seventh Ward, south of Lombard Street and east of Broad, the focus heart of black Philadelphia and focus of Du Bois’s study. Temple University, Urban Archives, Octavia Hill Association photo.