This week, my local newspaper ran three stories with a black history theme. I was surprised to see so many in one week, but I found it fitting since this is the week leading up to the celebration of one of the country’s most beloved holidays.
Each story in the Philadelphia Inquirer recounted a bit of local history, both here in Philadelphia and across the river in New Jersey. And I’d like to share them with you.
The Aronimink Golf Club and its first black member
Tiger Woods is on display at the PGA Tour’s AT&T National being played just outside Philadelphia. This story, however, didn’t focus on the “Cablinasian” Tiger – as he describes his bloodline of Caucasian, Black, Native American and Asian – but on the first black person admitted for membership at the club – in 1998. Not ancient history, but now history.
Back in 1993, the Aronimink decided not to host the PGA championship because the club had no black members – a requirement of the PGA. To be fair, the club said, it didn’t want to put a black member ahead of white candidates. So it took five years before a black person – Kenneth Hill – moved up on the waiting list.
On its website, the club has a link to an article about its founding, including how it got its name. There were two stories: One, the club was named after a Lenape chief (named Arronomink) who lived in a farmhouse at the site of its original clubhouse in Southwest Philadelphia. Or the name is a Native American word (meaning “by the beaver dam”) for a creek that ran through the property.
Interestingly, the club’s first golf pro, John Shippen, was a black man who worked there from 1900-1902. He had played in the U.S. Open in the 1890s, but the PGA had forbidden him from playing in its tournaments. Last year, the PGA awarded him a posthumous membership, along with Ted Rhodes and Bill Spiller, who decades before had sued the organization for its racist white-only policy. Read a history of African Americans in golf here and here.
This story told of an African American historical site being excavated in Burlington County, N.J. Called Timbuctoo, it was a once-thriving community founded by free African Americans and escaped slaves in the 1820s. A group of Temple University archaeology students and volunteers, including descendants of the founders, were unearthing artifacts and foundations. They have found a token, Listerine bottle, ceramic shards, a Vaseline jar and other relics from the early 20th century. Archaeologists say this is the largest such site uncovered in the area. Also on the site of Timbuctoo is a graveyard of black Civil War soldiers: it has 13 headstones, but many other graves are believed to be unmarked.
Columnist Annette John-Hall wrote about a storyteller who recounted the tale of the famous Still family – William Still was an abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad, and William Grant Still was a composer – from whom he descended. Mark Still calls himself the white side of this black family, and lets the audience know that their story is also his story. He’s part of “Once Upon a Nation,” a program of narrators who relate the stories of Philadelphia’s past.
