Pa.’s historical markers help teach Black history. Don’t let culture wars interfere

The theme for 2023′s Black History Month is “Black Resistance.” It’s appropriate.

Without Black resistance, so much would be different in this country — and not in a good way. Before Black history had a month, it only had a week. That changed in the late 1960s, when Black college students began resisting how their institutions excluded African American studies from their curricula. Their efforts helped transform what was then “Negro History Week” into a monthlong celebration. In 1986, President Ronald Regan made it official, signing into law February’s designation as Black History Month, proclaiming: “The foremost purpose of Black History Month is to make all Americans aware of this struggle for freedom and equal opportunity.”

Philadelphia has a long history of Black resistance. Black middle and high school students organized a citywide walkout in 1967, which ended at the Board of Education building. Their demands included the teaching of African American history.

These brave young students’ resistance is memorialized in a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker near 21st and Winter, unveiled in 2022. The text reads, in part: “Students’ demands for culturally inclusive education were realized in 2005 when Philadelphia became the first U.S. school district to mandate African American studies.”

What an achievement.

Pennsylvania’s blue-and-gold historical markers recognize people, places, and events that have statewide or national significance. The markers are public history lessons. In recent years, the Historical and Museum Commission has dramatically increased the number of markers representing significant moments in Black history that occurred in the state, which have educated an untold number of residents and visitors.

But now, I fear, this program may be at risk.

For only the second time in its history, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum announced in November that it was “temporarily pausing” the program because of “ongoing supply chain issues” affecting the production of the iconic blue-and-gold markers. I contacted the agency this week to check on the program’s status; spokesperson Howard Pollman told me, “There is no timetable as to when the temporary hiatus will be lifted.”

To me, the open-ended suspension — coupled with the vague language in the November announcement that the agency “will be reviewing the marker program in the interest of continuous improvement” — raises a red flag.

This suspension of the historical markers program (which happened only once before, during World War II) has me worried that the program — like so many others across the country in recent years — could become vulnerable to the ongoing culture wars, which have already begun to affect how we teach Black history.

To be clear: I have not heard of any direct threats to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s ability to continue approving historical markers about Black history in our state, once production resumes. But history shows my concerns are not unfounded.

History shows my concerns are not unfounded.

Before 1990, there were only two markers associated with Black history in Philadelphia. To address this, Charles L. Blockson, founder and then-curator of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University, launched a historical marker project funded by the William Penn Foundation. Between 1990 and 1993, the project dedicated dozens of historical markers to Black history in Philadelphia, including to John Coltrane, James Forten, Billie Holiday, William Still, and Henry O. Tanner. Today, there are more than 100 historical markers associated with Black history and culture in Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: How to explore Philly’s Black history: A historical marker tour

But the path to make our historical markers more representative hasn’t been smooth. In 2018, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission adopted a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access policy whose goals include “ensuring that a truly representative history of the Commonwealth is reflected.” This led to the removal or modification of the text of multiple markers around the state. This didn’t sit well with Republican State Rep. Parke Wentling, one of four state lawmakers on the 12-member commission. In a 2021 op-ed, Wentling invoked George Orwell’s book 1984: “My fear is that the commission is becoming less of a true historical arbiter and more of a miniaturized version of George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth that has government officers alter history to fit the convenient narrative of those in charge.”

Instead of allowing the unelected members of the commission to determine “what is historically true, what is historically distasteful, and what history should be celebrated,” Wentling floated the idea of privatizing the historical marker program: “Rather than have the official arm of the state be the arbiter of history, perhaps it is time for the commission to get out of the marker business entirely and find a way to privatize our historical recognitions.”

I believe Wentling’s screed is of a piece with a bill introduced in the last session by Republican State Rep. Russ Diamond, which seeks to prevent our schools from teaching “critical race theory.”

Some politicians want to erase the progress made in telling a more inclusive American story by attacking a conceptual framework for the teaching of Black history. I fear these culture wars will escalate as the 2024 presidential election heats up. There is already a disturbing precedent. Less than one year after the historical marker honoring gay-rights pioneer Richard Schlegel was dedicated, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission removed it after a lone lawmaker objected. Republican State Sen. John DiSanto’s allegation that Schlegel engaged in “grooming” is straight out of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” playbook.

Recently, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission did not approve my nomination of the Hotel Carlyle, a “Green Book” site — a location included in a 20th-century guidebook that listed which hotels were friendly to Black travelers. But I wasn’t disappointed, because the review panel recommended that the agency “take a more holistic approach to marking the Green Book in PA.” This makes sense; with 45 extant Green Book sites in Philadelphia, it would be a daunting challenge to prepare individual nominations. But will some object to a holistic approach to memorializing this travel guide that helped African Americans navigate Jim Crow laws in the South and racial segregation in the North?

Let’s treat the pause on the historical marker program as a wake-up call. Embrace the theme of this year’s Black History Month, and resist any attempt to whitewash or make permanent the suspension of the historical marker program.

Faye Anderson is a public historian and director of All That Philly Jazz. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission recently approved her nomination of jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan for a historical marker. andersonatlarge@gmail.com.