Bottom Tales and Others

Résumé du livre

A LOST WORLD REVEALED: THE BOTTOM, AN AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY THAT ONCE EXISTED IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

Imagine a community where neighbors all know and assist each other, where they never have to lock their doors. A myth, a pleasant dream? No, this once-vibrant African American community existed as part of Philadelphia. The Bottom, also known as Black Bottom, was located roughly between 33rd and 40th streets east and west and to Lancaster and University Boulevard in what Philadelphia city planners called Area 3. It was a place that transcended the physical infrastructure of the city. This community existed from the early 1900s until the mid-to-late 1950s before state and federal urban renewal displaced its residents. It was in 1984 that the first reunion of former Bottom residents was held, and later this lost community was honored by the City of Philadelphia. In 1999, the city declared the last Sunday in August as "Black Bottom Day," as a tribute to the legacy and the history of this lost community. It is through Bottom Tales and Others that this vanished community of over 5000 residents again lives. Like raising Lazarus from the dead, author Loretta Moore brings this once-thriving community back to life for you to experience, along with the edifying journeys the Bottom inspires.