Let’s Rise: Stories of Pennsylvania history

Welcome to the next installment of LET’S RISE, the PA Humanities statewide video project, created in partnership with Emmy-winning filmmaker Kelly Dessoye in celebration of our 50th anniversary. In these videos, you’ll see powerful examples of how everyday people across Pennsylvania are using the tools of the humanities to strengthen their lives and communities. 

These videos were originally scheduled for release in the spring, but when federal cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities threatened our future, we chose to pause. Their debut now comes at a moment of urgency and shows why the humanities are essential.

Each month, we’ll release a few videos organized around a theme. We began by showing how the humanities can spark community-building, with spotlights on our partners and work in Cardondale, Erie and Etna. Now, we’re excited to turn to Pennsylvania’s multi-layered history, exploring how the humanities help us remember, honor, and learn from the stories that shape who we are. These new videos spotlight the voices of partners and leaders preserving and celebrating Native history, African American literature and history, and family legacies. 

We invite you to watch and reflect, and join us in ensuring that the humanities remain a vibrant force in Pennsylvania by making your gift today. 

Healing and reconciliation at Pennsbury Manor

Pennsbury Manor is the only site in the nation dedicated to preserving the historical significance of William Penn, but his is not the only story told at this picturesque estate along the Delaware River in Morrisville. A PA SHARP – Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan – grant from PA Humanities helped site director Doug Miller and his team to continue their work through the pandemic, work that included partnering with Jeremy Johnson and fellow members of the Delaware Tribe of Indians to repatriate their Lenape ancestors whose remains were stolen and dispersed to museums and universities across the country.  

“Many native communities are somewhat hesitant to partner with museums because museums and universities were the people who dug up their ancestors and objectified them, stole funerary goods, and turned them into museum displays. The leap of faith that the Delaware Tribe of Indians placed in Pennsbury regarding Pennsbury being a destination for the repatriated ancestors, to me, was huge.” – Doug Miller

Building unity through the humanities

When Herman Beavers first started teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, his goal was to help students understand that African American literature could inform their humanity just as profoundly as Shakespeare, Melville, Hemingway or Wolf. That work continued and evolved as he partnered with PA Humanities on the Veterans Upward Bound project, and later on with community classes in West Philadelphia that emphasized storygathering and story listening. Students conducted interviews with local residents and then wrote monologues for characters they created, based on what they learned from these different perspectives. We call what we do the humanities, he says, because in the end everybody is made of flesh and blood, and everybody has the same concerns and the same fear and the same anxieties. 

“The humanities gives you an opportunity to have a window into another community and to feel for maybe 30 minutes or an hour like you’re part of this community. …My ultimate concern is that my students value the humanity of people that don’t look like them.” – Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President’s Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Preserving family legacy in Erie

Whether she’s researching and keeping the history of her family alive or guiding visitors through the Hagen History Museum in Erie, Gwendolyn White is passionate about stories. She’s a PA Humanities board member and current board president who became involved with the organization primarily because we guide people to connect with one another through storytelling. And connecting with each other, she says, helps us to not only understand our own lives but to change our lives, and to change our lives generationally.

“When you understand yourself and your background, that also helps you to understand others’ backgrounds. To improve our understanding and acceptance and responsibility of our humanity.”

Your support makes this work possible. LET’s rise together and keep the humanities strong in Pennsylvania, illuminating the strength and beauty of our shared humanity. Please consider a donation today.

This video series was made possible with the generous support of Tom Hagen.