Jack and Jill of America Foundation

Philadelphia, PA · est. 2014

John C. Asbury lived here at a time when few Black Americans held elected office in Pennsylvania. As a Republican state legislator he sponsored a 1921 statewide civil rights bill that became a model for later anti-discrimination efforts. He was also a noted philanthropist and editor who helped found Eden Cemetery and Mercy Hospital, institutions serving Philadelphia's African American community.

Philadelphia, PA · est. 1991

When it opened its doors in 1914, the Christian Street YMCA became the first Black YMCA in the nation to occupy its own building. In an age of rigid segregation, it offered African Americans a rare space of their own for recreation, education, and community organizing. Its rooms hosted meetings, lodging, and the everyday gatherings that knit Philadelphia's Black neighborhoods together.

Philadelphia, PA · est. 1993

Chartered in 1935 after African-American musicians were shut out of Philadelphia's white musicians' union, Local 274 became a home and advocate for Black performers. Its rolls included giants of modern jazz such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie, whose innovations reshaped American music. When it dissolved in 1971, it was the last predominantly Black local of the American Federation of Musicians in the country.

Philadelphia, PA · est. 1992

Christopher Perry launched the Philadelphia Tribune in 1884 as a single hand-printed page devoted to improving daily life for Black Americans. From that modest start it grew into an enduring institution and the oldest continuously published Black newspaper in the nation. For generations it chronicled the triumphs, struggles, and demands of Black Philadelphia when few other outlets would.