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A Place in History

Avenging the Ancestors Coalition leader set to make presentation in Cheltenham

Several of the greatest figures in African-American history — including Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and William Still — had very close ties to local anti-slavery freedom fighters in what’s today Cheltenham Township that helped them shatter the shackles of tyranny through the 1850s and 1860s.

With Tubman and Douglass actually being liberated through Still’s Underground Railroad and area Quaker abolitionists like Lucretia Mott and her son-in-law, Edward M. Davis, it’s quite appropriate that local Black History Month programs include a Sunday, Feb. 13, presentation at Cheltenham’s La Mott Community Center by Michael Coard, the brilliant black leader of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition.

After all, Coard’s group very successfully led the fight to establish a permanent memorial recognizing the nine slaves that President George Washington held in bondage near what was the U.S. executive house during the 1790s that sat near Sixth and Market streets virtually on the very spot where the Liberty Bell pavilion sits today, based on the laudatory research of historian Edward Lawler.

In fact, ATAC’s accomplishments received national publicity for helping to establish the very moving exhibit, the “President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in Making a New Nation,” magnificently featuring an open-air pavilion with re-created elements of the original slave quarters, executive house structure, videos and other archeological-related exhibits.

And that was despite the initial fierce opposition from a couple of national government agencies shamefully trying to sweep Washington’s woeful inadequacies under the proverbial rug, as well as attempting to shield the ugliness of slavery.

In the process, they were further devaluing the lives of blacks attending to virtually every so-called need of George and Martha Washington, despite two successfully escaping; although the president’s forces still gave chase to those who wished the same God-given freedom that he enjoyed.

So, Coard’s 3 p.m. community-center appearance in Cheltenham (at 7420 Sycamore Ave.), sponsored by the Citizens for the Restoration of Historical La Mott (CROHL) that’s leading the effort (with the anticipated help of the Cheltenham Historical Commission, etc.) to establish a museum and other major facilities to commemorate Camp William Penn (the first and largest federal facility to train black soldiers during the Civil War), is extremely appropriate, relevant and noteworthy.

Despite the fine refurbishing of the camp’s main gates (the only remaining original structure), it’s past time for local government, community groups and others to quickly step up the joint effort to establish permanent monuments to commemorate America’s first federal black soldiers, as well as the legendary abolitionists who made Chelten Hills (Cheltenham) or Camptown home.

Today’s La Mott was named for the bold freedom-fighter Lucretia Mott whose “Roadside” estate on Old York Road once stood a couple of blocks above Cheltenham Avenue next to the camp. Visitors to Mott’s home and facility included Douglass, Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Robert Purvis, John Greenleaf Whittier, William Lloyd Garrison and many others.

Incredibly, William Still, the “father of the Underground Railroad,” who wrote the landmark book, “The Underground Railroad,” about the secret system to shuttle slaves to freedom (likely including more than a few Camp William Penn soldiers), actually operated a store or supply center on the campgrounds.

Meanwhile, some of Camp William Penn’s soldiers and officers became incredible contributors to society, including the facility’s Commander Louis Wagner as a Philadelphia business, civic and educational leader; Congressman Josiah Walls of Florida and Atlanta University President Horace Bumstead, who’d eventually hire the pre-eminent scholar, W.E.B. DuBois, as a professor and help to establish the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

And in adhering with the theme of Coard’s upcoming presentation, “Black History: Not just a Month — But the Past, Present and Future,” books have now been written about Camp William Penn, including by Dr. James Paradis, concerning the 6th USCT (United States Colored Troops), who’ll also speak at the Feb. 13 event.

Plus, in addition to giving a very well-received presentation and speech about Camp William Penn at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh Feb. 3, I will be speaking about the facility at the Department of Labor in Philadelphia on the 24th, as well as beyond February at such places as the regional headquarters of the National Archives that will be televised on cable television via the Pennsylvania Humanities Council this summer.

I’m also very happy to report that a contract from a major Pennsylvania publisher of military history publications has been sent to me to write another book — this one consisting of up to 300 text pages with some images about Camp William Penn.

All of our efforts, and much more, will be needed to get the word out about our mighty and exceptional history, as well as to establish permanent memorials and facilities paying homage to Camp William Penn, its warriors and supporting abolitionists.