Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by Black/African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans.
The Foundation is celebrating by highlighting a few events and sharing some history and culture from Delaware County’s Black/African American community.
Philadelphia Eagles performance coach Autumn Lockwood, born in the city of Chester, became the first Black woman to win a Super Bowl as a coach with the Philadelphia Eagles last year. Read more here!
The Hilldale Athletic Club, formerly known as the Darby Daises, was founded in Darby, Delaware County. Many years ago, along MacDade Boulevard, stood Hilldale Park, home to one of the greatest Negro League baseball teams of all time. Today you’ll find a Pennsylvania historical marker there celebrating the legacy.
The team originally started in 1910 as a boy’s squad, but developed over the years into a powerhouse, competing in the first Negro Leagues World Series, between the Hilldale Club of the Eastern Colored League and the Kansas City Monarchs of the National Negro League. While Hilldale didn’t win that series, they did go on to play in and win in 1925 and were dominant in the years that followed.
Learn more about the Hilldale Club
Delaware County played a pivotal role in the Underground Railroad, with many residents offering shelter and aid to enslaved people on their journey to the North. You can follow their journey by exploring the self-guided walking tour that travels through underground railroad sites throughout Delaware County.
Recently, the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom added the Darby Friends Meetinghouse and School site to the program which currently includes over 740 locations in 40 states. The meeting’s history includes the story of Allen Rickets who escaped to his own freedom with other family members from their enslaver near Baltimore when he was 11 years old in the early 1830s. He found refuge within the Darby Friends Meetinghouse and was educated at Darby Friends School. The meeting members later rescued him from a kidnapping attempt.
Read more about the Darby Friends Network to Freedom designation Read an account of the Underground Railroad in Delaware County
The Delaware County Library system has put together recommendations celebrating Black authors. Find a Book
Delaware County Honorees
“Making a Homeplace: The Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore (HBNS)”. The HBNS: Making a Homeplace inaugural podcast features three community-curated episodes from various HBNS ethnographic research in 2010, 2020, 2022.
Listen Here
Delaware County Historical Society’s Winter Open House Sat. Feb 7 from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The open house will feature displays highlighting the 101-year history of the NAACP Media Area Branch, established in 1924 by Percy O. Batipps Sr. The open house is free and open to the public, and the display will remain up through March 10.
