The historical marker at this location commemorates the nearby site of the offices of Martin R. Delany’s newspaper The Mystery. Published between 1843 and 1848, The Mystery was the first African American newspaper established west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Mystery was only one of Delany’s many notable ventures, which together spanned a remarkable career as physician, abolitionist, Black nationalist, and US Army officer. As a resident of the city off and on for decades in the nineteenth century, Delany was one of Pittsburgh’s most famous Black citizens and one of the most prominent African Americans of his day. While the original offices of The Mystery no longer exist, the historical marker commemorating the newspaper’s publications can be viewed here twenty-four hours a day.
Pittsburgh’s first suffrage parade held its closing ceremonies near this approximate location on May 2, 1914. It was one of many such events organized across the United States between the first Woman Suffrage Procession held in Washington, D.C. in 1913 and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. The Equal Franchise Federation was primarily responsible for organizing the Pittsburgh parade in 1914, an organization founded and led by white suffragists. The event is notable, however, as the only suffrage march in the United States in which Black women held positions on the planning committee and the procession was integrated. This location is, as it was in 1914, public space and is accessible twenty-four hours a day. The Carnegie Museum has also created a miniature reconstruction of the parade, which can be viewed during its regular operating hours.
Gimbels Department Store was a part of the Gimbels chain of department stores from 1914 to the late 1980s. In 1935, the store saw protesters picketing the store for not hiring African Americans.
The August Wilson African American Cultural Center on Liberty Avenue is dedicated to housing and celebrating the creative work of western Pennsylvania’s African American community. Plans to open such a center began as early as 1996 but were not realized until 2009. The center is named for August Wilson, a playwright from Pittsburgh who won two Pulitzer Prizes and two Tony Awards. Honoring his legacy, the August Wilson Center has become a premier site for the commemoration of African American arts and culture in the region. The center presents performances, visual arts programs, rotating exhibits, and special events, and features galleries, classrooms, a 500-seat theater, gift shop, and a café. It is open from 11 AM to 6 PM Wednesday and Thursday, 11 AM to 8 PM Friday and Saturday, and 11 AM to 5 PM on Sunday.
This site was the start location for a demonstration against architectural barriers to people with disabilities that featured twenty protesters in wheelchairs making their way down Liberty Avenue to Market Square on sidewalks lacking curb cuts and ramps. The protest, which took place on May 4, 1990, was a response to downtown Pittsburgh’s lack of accessibility after a decade plus of advocacy to remove architectural barriers in the city’s other neighborhoods. The United Cerebral Palsy of Pittsburgh Association and Three Rivers Center for Independent Living organized the protest to coincide with “Barrier Awareness Week” in May, a commemoration highlighting barriers to independent living among people with disabilities. Shortly after the protest Congressional leaders passed the Americans with Disabilities Act mandating among other things that public spaces maintain certain accessibility standards, a stipulation that gave local activists in areas like Pittsburgh further grounds for enforcing the removal of architectural barriers. As a result, the sidewalks along which the protesters traveled on May 4, 1990 are accessible to anyone seeking to follow their route.
Freedom Corner is located at the corner of Crawford Street and Centre Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood. Dedicated in 2001, the memorial showcases the African American community’s fight for freedom. The site was once a place where civil rights activists would meet during marches and is now a place to reflect on past struggles.
The setting of the 1985 play Fences by August Wilson. Fences focuses on the Maxon family, and their toils with the ever changing social and political life in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in the 1950s. Fences has won a Pulitzer Prize (1987), Tony Award (1987), and its 2016 film adaptation was nominated for four Academy Awards, with Viola Davis winning Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rose Maxon.
August Wilson was one of Americas most gifted and talented African American playwrights. He was born in this house in the Hills District, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 27, 1945. This area at the time was home to a working class neighborhood that was predominantly African American. Wilson would later use this apartment house as the setting for some of his most famous plays. The culture and environment surrounding this small apartment led to some of the most important moments in Wilson's career.
Ammon Field, currently known as Josh Gibson Field, dates back to the early 1920s and was home to teams such as the Pittsburgh Keystones, Homestead Grays, and, the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In the 1940s, the ballpark was divided into two youth ballparks. In 2008, Ammon Field was renamed after Baseball Hall of Fame member, Josh Gibson. The Josh Gibson Foundation was also created to care for the ball fields and ensure that area youth will always have a proper field.
The site where Greenlee Field once stood has earned a place in history. Greenlee Field was the first and only Black-owned baseball field in the East but only stood for a short 6 years before being replaced with the Bedford Dwellings housing project. The field was named after the owner Gus Greenlee and was home to the Pittsburgh Crawfords. A Pennsylvania historical marker is placed on the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Junilla Street, near the place where the baseball stadium once stood.
Eddie’s Restaurant once sat here at 2172 Wylie Avenue. Hill District native, August Wilson would come to this restaurant to write his “Pittsburgh Cycle” plays and it is believed that he used the restaurant as inspiration for Two Trains Running. Unlike the restaurant in Two Trains Running, Eddie’s was demolished in 2008.
The Lutz Meat Market was once located in this building on Centre Avenue. The market was owned by Karl Lutz. August Wilson included both the market and Lutz in his play, Two Trains Running. Within the play, Wilson stressed that there were racial tensions between Lutz and the Hill District’s African American community. However, this portrayal went against the actual moral character of Karl Lutz.
West Funeral Home was originally located here at 2216 Centre Avenue. The funeral home served the African American community and continues to do so today at its 2215 Wylie Avenue location. The West family has owned and operated this funeral home for three generations. August Wilson included the funeral home and its owner, Thomas L. West Sr., in Two Trains Running. However, Wilson’s portrayal of West was inaccurate.
Homewood Playground and Homewood Swimming Pool are the approximate location of a lumberyard fire that took place during the April 1968 riots within Pittsburgh. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, Pittsburgh erupted in six days of violent protests, culminating in a fire at a Homewood Lumberyard.
Located within the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the Crawford Grill was one of the popular night clubs that catered to the African American community during the 1950s and 1960s. The club featured some of the leading jazz artists and was also one of the few places where white ad Black residents socialized together during the civil rights era. This club was also a place where baseball legends like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson frequently visited. The building has been vacant since 2003 but there is now a historical marker that offers a concise history of the establishment and its historical significance.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This tour includes landmarks related to the life of influential playwright, August Wilson, and efforts to promote civil rights in Pittsburg
