This week on The African American Experience, Samuel Black, the director of African American Programs at the Heinz History Center, joins us to talk about how the Great Migration influenced Pittsburgh. During the Great Migration more than 6 million African Americans moved from the South to the North and West with many thousands settling in […]
The African American Experience: The Pittsburgh Courier
Founded in 1907, The Pittsburgh Courier would rise to become one of the most important African American newspapers in the country. Under the leadership of Robert L. Vann, the paper covered politics, sports, business, the Civil Rights Movement, and international affairs in the 1930s. During World War II, it championed the “Double V” campaign to […]
“Making Industrial Pittsburgh Modern”
Pittsburgh’s explosive industrial and population growth between the mid-nineteenth century and the Great Depression required constant attention to city-building. Private, profit-oriented firms, often with government involvement, provided necessary transportation, energy resources, and suitable industrial and residential sites. Meeting these requirements in the region’s challenging hilly topographical and riverine environment resulted in the dramatic reshaping of […]
PA Books: “Pittsburgh and the Great Steel Strike of 1919”
In 1919, the steel industry of Pittsburgh was on the brink of war. Years of labor strife broke out into open conflict as steel workers launched the biggest strike to date in the United States, paralyzing mills from Youngstown to Johnstown and beyond. Radical unionists, anarchists and Bolshevik sympathizers set bombs, planned for revolution and […]
PA Books: “Idlewild”
Idlewild was developed by Pittsburgh’s Mellon family as a picnic grove to boost traffic on the Ligonier Valley Rail Road. When C.C. Macdonald took the helm in 1931, rides, entertainment and other attractions came to Idlewild over the next half century, along with the adjacent Story Book Forest. After joining the Kennywood family of amusement […]
July 26, 2020: Revival on Lincoln, Bellevue PA
Revival on Lincoln is housed in a restored building in Bellevue, and the owners, Chris and John, hope to jump start the revitalization of their neighborhood. Chris gives us a tour of the property, and John tells us about the history and his experience owning and renovating the restaurant. Executive Chef Jamie Sola makes two […]
It’s History!: Heinz History Center
This week on It’s History! we tour the largest history museum in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. The museum features a range of exhibits on Western Pennsylvania history including some notable figures such as Mr. Rogers and H.J. Heinz and the world renowned company he built. We will […]
It’s History!: Fort Pitt Museum
In this episode of It’s History!, we visit the Fort Pitt Museum in downtown Pittsburgh. Join us as we learn about the history of Fort Pitt and its role in the French and Indian War. We will look at everyday life at the forks of the Ohio River in the 18th century and explore the […]
PA Books: Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance
The other great renaissance of black culture, influence, and glamour burst forth joyfully in what may seem an unlikely place—Pittsburgh, PA—from the 1920s through the 1950s. Today black Pittsburgh is known as the setting for August Wilson’s famed plays about noble but doomed working-class strivers. But this community once had an impact on American history […]
Battlefield Pennsylvania: The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Wage and job cuts caused nationwide railroad strikes in 1877. The strike started on July 14, in West Virginia, and quickly spread nationwide. Major strikes occurred in five Pennsylvania cities. The rioting was the most severe in Pittsburgh, where militia clashed with strikers from July 21-22, 1877, killing 40 and wounding dozens. Watch Battlefield Pennsylvania […]