Welcome to Voices of History, a PA Humanities project inspired by the works of renowned playwright August Wilson and designed to showcase the voices of everyday Black Pennsylvanians. We launched the project in Pittsburgh, inviting community members to gather and share personal stories about life in the 20th and 21st centuries in the Steel City. Fifteen people were selected to professionally record their stories to start a statewide archival collection. We’re excited to share them now.
In these videos, you’ll hear remembrances and reflections not only on entrepreneurship and success, but also community, family and connection. Each video brings the individual stories to life in the storytellers’ own words, enriched by archival photos.
“The Negro Business Directory”
As Sharon Stephens looks through an old copy of the Negro Business Directory, she’s reminded of a time when Black businesses and entrepreneurs, including members of her own family, found success in the Hill District. Over 1,000 Black businesses across the Pittsburgh area advertised their products and services, including Tyson’s Bakery, where Stephens worked her first job, Hick’s Superette, where her family shopped for groceries, and Johnson’s Studio, where her baby picture was featured in the window.
“As I thumb through this book it really takes me down memory lane. It reminds me of community and family and how we were able to have a thriving and a teeming community that provided all types of services and products that were from Black businesses and Black entrepreneurs. Rarely did we have to go downtown because everything was in our neighborhood.”
“Through Teenie’s Lens”
Renee Aldrich was shocked and angered to discover a photo of her late grandmother being sold by a street vendor in the heart of Pittsburgh’s popular shopping district known as The Strip District. Years later she would once again discover photos of her grandmother and great aunts – all entrepreneurs and businesswomen – but this time amidst the collection of Teenie Harris photographs at the Carnegie Museum of Art. She shares not only the story of her grandmother but also the powerful connection she made to her own history and work in the Hill District community through the famous photographer’s work.
“One afternoon I left work on my lunch hour and thought this is a good time for me to go see the Teenie Harris display. And I walked down there and went in the room and it was pictures everywhere. While I was in there I noticed that in each picture there were some cards where they would ask you if you’re here and you see these pictures and you know who they are, please identify them. After a while walking through looking at the pictures there I came upon my grandmother’s photo. … And sure enough there were other photos.”
“Black Credit”
Homestead native Valerie Thomas Njie knew her dad as a TV man, a successful repair shop owner turned appliance and store owner who helped instill in her a strong work ethic and the belief that there’s only one way to do things: the right way. Years later, as his church was preparing to honor his legacy, she learned much more about her father and the important role he played in helping members of the Black community furnish their homes and their lives in the 1960s.
“I started looking into, what was he known for? I just knew him as the TV man, the man who sold appliances and expanded to furniture and rugs and things like that. But what I found out was that he was known, and he was so successful, because Black folks couldn’t get loans. They couldn’t get credit back in the ‘60s when he became so successful.”
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