Robert Mara Adger (1837-1910)

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. 2025

Local 8 of the Industrial Workers of the World organized Philadelphia's waterfront dockworkers from 1913 to 1923, growing into one of the country's largest and most powerful unions. Under the leadership of Ben Fletcher, it stood out as a Black-led, multiracial local that deliberately united workers across ethnic and racial lines. It fought for better wages, safer conditions, and a solidarity that crossed the color line at a time when most unions did not.

Philadelphia, PA · est. 1992

Octavius V. Catto was a rising leader of Black Philadelphia in the Civil War and Reconstruction years—an early graduate of the Institute for Colored Youth who became an educator, a military officer, and a tireless organizer for equal rights. On election day in 1871, as he urged Black citizens to exercise their newly won right to vote, he was assassinated by rioters. His death was mourned across the city as the loss of a brilliant champion of equality.

Philadelphia, PA · est. 1993

Henry L. Phillips traveled a remarkable spiritual path—baptized Catholic, raised Moravian, and ultimately ordained an Episcopal priest—before turning the Church of the Crucifixion into far more than a house of worship. Under his leadership it became a Black cultural center renowned for its social outreach in Philadelphia. He also helped found the American Negro Historical Society, an early effort to document and preserve African American history.