Event

The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, 1838 Black Metropolis, and the Library Company of Philadelphia will be partnering together to host “Black Philadelphia in the 18th and 19th Centuries” on February 20-22, 2025.

The conference aims to restore Black people as central historical actors in Philadelphia, paying particular attention to their abolitionist, cultural, economic, social, and political networks. As the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2026, Philadelphia will be in the national spotlight for its historic connections to 1776. Too often placed at the margins of these commemorations, Black historical subjects take center stage at this conference, which aims to document their labor, politics and cultural contributions and rethink the periodization that determines national celebrations while compartmentalizing the history of racial minorities as separate timelines.