In the heart of Pittsburgh in the 1960s, an aspiring gas station owner became so much more - a model of Black entrepreneurship, and a respected pillar in the Hill District’s economy and community. 

Herbert Bean was born in Union Springs, Alabama in 1915 to a schoolteacher and a cotton farmer. When his father developed a heart condition, Bean left school after 4th grade to work on the farm. At age 25, Bean took a train to Pittsburgh and landed in the Hill with determination, a spirit to succeed, and a desire for a better life. Herbert Bean not only found all he was looking for, but also contributed to making the Hill District a better place. 

Bean’s business ventures in Pittsburgh began with hard work at several different jobs, including several positions at the steel mill and taxi driving. As he worked these jobs, he gained experience and built connections throughout the Hill District. Bean also found work at a gas station, where he carefully observed how the business operated. This experience sparked his desire to own a gas station himself, having observed firsthand the potential of the industry.

Herbert Bean purchased the gas station at Kirkpatrick and Centre from Willie Stevenson for $1,800 in 1961, using his personal car as collateral for the loan. Bean and a few friends worked the gas station in the early months, putting in 16-20 hour days and splitting the meager profits among themselves until the business was successful enough to establish payroll. That hard work soon paid off – within its first year, the station was selling six times more gasoline than under the previous owner, and Bean soon became the biggest gasoline seller in the Hill District. 

This success placed Bean among a select group of approximately 1,200 Black gas station owners nationwide, making him part of an exclusive community of Black entrepreneurs in the petroleum industry. Bean’s success led to the acquisition of a second business, when in 1966 Gulf Oil to asked him to take over a failing service station in Homewood. This, too, became a highly profitable business, and he eventually acquired a third.

Bean’s business philosophy was straightforward and practical. He believed deeply in maintaining high standards—insisting on clean uniforms, excellent service, and spotless stations. Once when asked for advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, he declared, “Don’t mess with whiskey, women or gambling…if you start doing those things, you can forget about having a successful business.” This wisdom guided his own success and the counsel he offered to others in the community. 

Bean also had a unique approach to hiring. When considering someone for employment, he would offer them temporary work, then tell them that he had to step out to talk to his friend, and then send others into the station to observe what the potential employee would do when left alone. This method helped him gauge character and work ethic. Of the ten original employees at his first station, seven were still working for him a decade later, a testament to Bean’s ability to choose good people and earn loyalty. 

Never one to remain still, Bean was constantly on the move, connecting with his customers and understanding their needs. Besides his service stations, he also rented spaces that would become the highlight of nightlife in the Hill and centers for entertainment and social gathering. Bean also had dreams of building a restaurant and a motel in the area. Perhaps someday, if such establishments are ever built on the Hill, someone will honor his legacy by naming them "Bean's."

Herbert Bean’s role in the Hill extended beyond just making a profit, though – he believed in supporting and encouraging Black business ownership and building up the community. In addition to his other enterprises, he operated a bondsman business and also personally provided loans to community members when financial institutions would not. The author witnessed firsthand the respect he commanded when, as a child, she accompanied her Aunt Verma to secure a loan from Mr. Bean. Years later, as an adult, she benefited from his services herself. 

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Bean proudly displayed his picture on the wall as a symbol of hope and determination. He was an advocate for civil rights who participated in pickets against companies discriminating against Black people. Among his many community activities, he served on the board of Pittsburgh NAACP, and as a board member of his friend Robert Lavelle’s Dwelling House Savings and Loan. He was also one of the founders of the Freedom House Ambulance Service, demonstrating his commitment to essential services for the neighborhood. His community involvement extended to spiritual life as well, as a longtime member and fund-raiser for Calvary Baptist Church. 

Herbert Bean passed away in 1998, but his name is still widely known throughout the Hill. He exemplified the strong men and women who came to Pittsburgh, worked tirelessly, and built a lasting legacy in the Hill. Bean represented what true business leadership looked like in the neighborhood: committed, hard-working, and deeply invested.

In 2008, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh opened the new facility for its Hill District branch on the former site of Bean's Gulf station.

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Disc jockeys hold an important place in popular music, bridging the gap between artists and listeners. Many famous DJs have been instrumental in bringing the latest music to the masses. One name that doesn’t come up often, however, is the game-changing Mary Dee, the first Black female disc jockey in the United States, who broadcast from the Hill District.

Mary Dee was revolutionary. Among the first DJs to become a national figure, her show on Pittsburgh’s WHOD attracted hundreds of thousands of listeners from 1948 to 1956. At the height of her popularity, she had a studio, interviewed celebrities, hosted public events, and promoted new talent. She also used her status to bring attention to issues in the Black community. After she left Pittsburgh in 1956, she remained on air and became a fixture in Baltimore and Philadelphia until her death in 1964.

Dee was born Mary Elizabeth Goode Dudley in 1912 in Homestead PA. Her parents, William and Mary, the children of enslaved people, moved to the Pittsburgh area in the late 1800s. Driven and keen to express herself, Dee graduated from St. Mann Radio School in Pittsburgh in 1948, and when WHOD started up soon after, she applied for a job. Though the station turned her down, she persisted and was finally offered a show on the condition she found sponsorship. After securing backing, the 15-minute “Movin’ Around with Mary Dee” went on the air and quickly exploded in popularity.

Within months, her airtime increased to an hour, and she soon had a new segment, the highly successful, faith-based “Gospel Train”. People from all walks of life would tune in to hear her. By the 1950s, she had established herself as WHOD’s shining star, interviewing Jackie Robinson, Sarah Vaughn, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt, and countless other celebrities. In 1951, the station gifted her "Studio Dee" on the corner of Centre and Herron Avenues in the Hill.

Dee gave to her community as much as it gave her. Committed to civil rights, she used her platform to address Black issues of the day. She frequently had her brother, Malvin “Mal” Goode, a reporter with the Courier, on her show to cover Black news. Goode, who went on to become the first Black newsman employed by ABC, tackled the latest in segregation and police brutality. Dee also believed in giving a voice to young people. She played music popular with teenagers, such as rock and roll, emceed teen clubs, and had a teen segment hosted by her daughter Sherlynn, or “Little Dee”. Additionally, she promoted the careers of obscure up-and-comers and served as a mentor for Black children, such as future guitarist George Benson. 
Unfortunately, not everything went smoothly. In 1952, she divorced her abusive husband Franklin, who left her to raise their children alone. While she and WHOD were generally popular, they faced racist backlash from some listeners. In 1955, the station was sold to buyers who converted it into WAMO, a country showcase. In 1956, Dee, her brother, and the four other Black employees were fired, with owner Leonard Walk citing competition in the “Negro market.” 

While Dee lost her studio, she wouldn’t stay down. She moved to Baltimore and continued working, before coming to Philadelphia to start a show in 1958, invited by her friend Dolly Banks who ran a local station.. With her new program, “Songs of Faith”, Dee came back to the mainstream, winning greater popularity than ever before. She remained active in the Black community, joining the NAACP and the National Council of Negro Women, as well as being among the first African Americans accepted into American Women of Radio and Television. By the time of her death on March 17th, 1964, she had become legendary, and 3,000 people attended her Philadelphia funeral.

“Legendary” describes Mary Dee best. A trailblazer, she not only created a path for many Black women to follow, but through her connection with the society around her, from the Hill to America at large, she helped set the stage for what DJs are supposed to be. She played records others weren’t willing to play and spoke about topics others wouldn’t cover.

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In 1894, six women in the Hill District of Pittsburgh unknowingly made history with the creation of the Aurora Reading Club. Rachel Lovett Jones, along with Hannah Lovett, Virginia Woodson Proctor, Anna Posey, and Cora V. Hill Washington aimed to create a space where African American women could explore literacy, the arts, and the sciences at a time when African American women were not given many opportunities to do so.  Their goals still live on within the club today.

The Aurora Reading Club created the motto, “Lifting as we climb,” to signify the women’s goal of helping each member better themselves through education and advocacy for themselves and each other. They did this through sharing literature, participating in cultural and political events, and using the reputation developed through the years to aid in their social pursuits. The club’s most common events consist of luncheons and community events to advocate and raise awareness for promoting literacy both locally and nationally.

Each month, the group hosts a luncheon at one of the member’s homes. This is in addition to a grand anniversary luncheon held in a larger venue to accommodate additional guests. Membership in the Aurora Reading Club has become a generational tradition, resulting in members like Thelma Lovette Morris, current co-chair of the club and the great-granddaughter of founder Hannah Lovett. 

Examples of the club’s work have been regularly mentioned in the Pittsburgh Courier, which documented the Club’s meetings, including guest speakers, the topic of the meeting’s discussion, and informing readers about the book the group had talked about. They have also documented the wide variety of issues the Aurora Reading Club has addressed to help in the spread of information important to Pittsburgh.

In 1959, the Pittsburgh Courier documented a club meeting where the topic discussed was about “an ordinance against discriminating in housing.” The luncheon had a member of the Commission come and talk about the working of the Office of the Mayor of Pittsburgh. In addition to area specific news, in 1960, the Pittsburgh Courier reported the club had one of their monthly luncheons talking about “Negro History,” which discussed “contributions of the Negro in religion, poetry, music, science, medicine and architecture both locally and nationally.” This meeting also touched on many “firsts” like those of Dr. Vivian Davidson Hewitt, the first African American librarian. 

The Aurora Reading Club is not only able to help local areas within Western Pennsylvania, like the Hill District, but people all over the country as well. The current day club’s accomplishments, documented in the Pittsburgh Courier, include setting up the Evers Book Fund in order to gather and ship books to multiple communities in Mississippi as well as providing books for the Selma Burke Art Center. The Aurora Reading Club has its roots placed firmly in the Hill District and has shown that it remains true to and has improved upon their original goals in 1894.

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In 1939, a group of children in the Hill District began to gain national attention. With the help of a local detective, they were able to form their own “municipality within a municipality” known as Hill City. This municipality was known as “the social force of the community” and created a model of how social action can empower youth to make a positive change in their community.

Police Detective Howard McKinney founded Hill City on June 4, 1939, and modeled it after a similar experiment in Columbus, Ohio. Miniature cities or miniature municipalities were used as a tool for urban reform during the 1890s in an attempt to aid immigrant populations in poor districts of New York. They had faded out of popularity for a while, but during the Great Depression, concerns grew again about growing juvenile crime rates in urban communities. This time, however, instead of being implemented into immigrant housing settlements, it was used for Black urban communities like the Hill District which were facing extreme struggle during the Great Depression. The idea was that if the children of the Hill District were given responsibility over themselves and their peers, it would curb crime and save the community money. The miniature municipality, Hill City, was similar to an after school club that was set up in a building. Children would run their own city and hold councils and trials. This government would make decisions for where money would go- whether it was to recreational activities or paying the building’s light bill. Hill City’s main goals were to cut down on petty crime in the area, help teach children responsibility and give them something to do after school. Over 1,800 Black and white children had joined the municipality, and all of the official positions were elected by and held by children.  McKinney served primarily as an advisory position and guided these elected officials through policy and court hearings.

Howard McKinney originally started Hill City with his own money. He had framed Hill City as a project where children would be accountable for each other and looking out for each other instead of monitoring and targeting each other. He had believed that children were integral to the future of the Hill District and was deeply passionate about making sure that they grew up to be responsible adults. However, as Hill City started to gain the attention of the Pittsburgh City Council, it started to receive funding from the city of Pittsburgh. Every month, a $50 check would be sent to the Hill City Hall that would allow the members to heat and light the building as well as pay a phone and stationary bill. No purchases could be made in Hill City without prior approval from the Hill City Council, which was made up of children ranging from ages 12 to 19.

One of the most impressive aspects of Hill City was the judicial system, which held court at 2038 Wylie Avenue every Saturday. This system was so interesting that it attracted politicians to come and watch the court proceedings. If a child were caught committing a petty crime or partaking in gang activity, the police would turn the child over to Hill City instead of sending them to juvenile prison. Once in court, they would be tried by a judge, who was usually an older teenage Hill City member,  as well as a jury made up of Hill City youth. If found guilty, the accused youth would then be sentenced to “hard labor” such as mopping, washing dishes, or other various housekeeping items around the municipality.

Hill City did two things for the Hill District: it saved the city of Pittsburgh money and created a society where children were uplifted and given importance and responsibility. It cost the city of Pittsburgh thousands of dollars to combat the crime seen in the Hill District. City officials and parents praised Hill City for giving underserved children better opportunities at a time when racial bias was rampant in urban areas. According to James M. Reid, a writer for the Pittsburgh Courier who wrote a series on Hill City, “Fewer fire alarms save thousands of dollars, storekeepers say thefts are reduced 63 per cent, ugly landmarks are beautified, health and recreation programs are promoted...”

Hill City was one of many programs that were ended during the urban renewal movement of the 1950s and 60s. The municipality was unable to relocate and therefore faded out of its existence. Now, its legacy is a testament to how children can create a city that is built on community and betterment.

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Jews have been present in the territory that would eventually become the city of Pittsburgh almost since the beginning. Some of the first recognizable settled Jews were David Franks, Levi A. Levy, and William Trent, who manned a permanent trading post in the settlement at the forks of the Ohio River in 1760. From these early roots, the Jewish presence in Pittsburgh gradually grew, becoming an integral part of the city's evolving cultural and social fabric.

The Jewish population of Pittsburgh  since then has been a small but steady presence in the city’s history. While mostly associated with Squirrel Hill today, the center of Jewish life in Pittsburgh was formerly the Hill District. In fact, the Jewish community of the Hill was an even older community than that of Squirrel Hill. This transformation in Jewish settlement patterns becomes particularly striking when examining the once-thriving Jewish community of the Hill District.

While the Hill District is often more associated with the African-American population of Pittsburgh, 20 synagogues stood within its limits between 1890 and 1925. The majority of the Hill’s Jewish population consisted of Eastern European Jews who migrated to the United States in the latter half of the 19th Century, starting in the 1870s and continuing till just after the First World War. As the center of Jewish spiritual and community life, synagogues soon sprouted up. The expansion of synagogues in the Hill District serves as a testament to the centrality of religious and community life for these Jewish immigrants.

Building off of practices established in Germany and Eastern Europe, many of these synagogues were simple and temporary affairs established in the backs of houses and businesses, however a few larger brick and mortar synagogues would be established. One of the more noteworthy being Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob Congregation. Founded under a different name by Lithuanian Jewish Immigrants in 1869, it would later move locations and rename itself in 1892. Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob was an Orthodox Synagogue (a Traditionalist Branch of Judaism) and was the self-proclaimed center of Orthodox Judaism in Greater Pittsburgh. Despite their modest beginnings, some of these synagogues evolved into enduring institutions that played pivotal roles in shaping Pittsburgh's Jewish identity.

Another notable Synagogue was Kether Torah, another Orthodox Congregation established around the same time as Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob. Kether Torah was a smaller congregation and at the time sponsored a Jewish Cemetery in the Hill District. While they separated in the 1960s as Pittsburgh’s Jews moved into the suburbs and wealthier neighborhoods like Squirrel Hill thanks to both growing financial capabilities of Pittsburgh Jews and the repeals of many red line laws for Jews after World War II and Jewish religious law requiring Synagogues to be close to the Jewish places of living, both the Congregation and the original structure have survived though the building that once housed the Kether Torah Synagogue is now a Christian Church. Kether Torah’s story offers another perspective on the religious and cultural adaptation of the Hill District's Jewish community, paralleling the narrative of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob.

The Story of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob Synagogue is similar in that they also moved as a congregation out of the Hill in the 1960s and after a series of moves ended up at its current location on 5th Avenue. Like countless other businesses, homes, and religious structures, the Original Synagogue was purchased under eminent domain and demolished along with much of the Hill with the Urban Renewal Projects of the 60s. Yet, the story of these synagogues also underscores the broader social and economic shifts that led to the gradual decline of the Hill District as a center of Jewish life.

The Jews of the Hill District largely left the Hill during this period and resettled in Squirrel Hill and Oakland starting in the 50s and have largely abandoned the Hill despite its significance as the former center of Jewish life in Pittsburgh however in the institutional memory of many Pittsburgh Synagogues and in some buildings still standing in the Hill, that history can still be seen. While the Jewish presence in the Hill District has diminished, the area remains a poignant reminder of its historical significance to Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.

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In the 1950s, the city of Pittsburgh announced their newest plan for commercial development within the city: the Civic Arena. In Pittsburgh, and many American cities at the time, urban renewal was an attractive concept to city officials, and this proposal meant clearing the Lower Hill to house this new entertainment center. The Lower Hill was an ideal location for the new arena because of its proximity to downtown and other major business districts of Pittsburgh. However, this new development would have significant ramifications not only for the future of business owners and families, but also for the history of the wild and wonderful Hill District. 

The plan for construction was proposed by the city’s mayor, David L. Lawrence, with the intention of clearing out buildings and structures deemed as slums. As part of an effort by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, the plan would allow for these dilapidated buildings to be replaced with new infrastructure for the city. In its place, the Civic Arena would bring business and entertainment to the city. The arena was to be the first in the world to have a retractable roof, and the growing demand for entertainment made the arena an attractive addition. The plan also included newly constructed housing developments that would create more up-scale living. These new apartments, however, would not be affordable for the residents who previously occupied the area.

The destruction of housing in the lower Hill District left community members with no choice other than to relocate their homes elsewhere. According to the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper article that outlined the reconstruction plans, the Pittsburgh Housing Authority was faced with the responsibility of relocating the 9,000 residents that were bound to lose their homes. However, the suddenness of the demolition and the new construction left the families scattered into neighboring areas. As a result, the middle-class residents of these other Pittsburgh neighborhoods chose to leave the city because of this new overcrowding. The community that was the Lower Hill was fractured and dispersed among the city, breaking deep-rooted connections and relationships that had been around for generations.

As a result of the city’s redevelopment efforts, Pittsburgh’s Hill District took on a completely different appearance by the 1960s. The businesses that were displaced had to find new ways to operate, and many of the lively clubs and music joints found temporary locations to keep the spirit and social atmosphere of the Hill alive through this transition. Some of the most noteworthy buildings that were demolished included the very popular Loendi Club, Stanley’s Tavern, and the Crawford Grill, among many others as well. The bustling streets that were once a center for community and business were replaced with an oversized sports arena and an intrusion into a culturally rich society. 

The Civic Arena closed in 2010 and was demolished shortly after. Today, a parking lot sits at the site of what was once the bustling neighborhood of the Lower Hill District.

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There were many notable reporters who worked for the Courier throughout its production in the 20th century, but two stand out among the rest as truly remarkable.

Frank E. Bolden

Frank E. Bolden was a bright pre-med student at University of Pittsburgh when he began writing as a stringer, or freelance reporter, for the Courier. Barred from med school because of his race, and unwilling to find a teaching position in the deep South, Bolden took on a full-time position at the paper when he graduated in 1934. His beat was on Wylie Avenue, right in the heart of the Hill. He wrote about the nightlife there, reporting from clubs where future jazz legends like Billy Eckstine, Mary Lou Williams, and Art Blakey would play every night. He also wrote about the prostitution and gambling that was common on the street. 

When World War II broke out, Bolden made history as one of the two African American war correspondents in the nation. As he traveled overseas, he took the Courier’s mission to fight for the representation and rights of Black people with him. In a time when military desegregation was fiercely contested, it was a widely held belief that Black soldiers would prove to be cowardly and untrustworthy on the battlefield. Bolden’s reporting in the Pacific theater and in Italy combated this notion; one division he covered earned 12,000 citations of valor during their invasion of Italy. In Asia, he gave voice to the stories of the Black soldiers and engineers working on the infamous Burma Road. His work in the Pacific Theater led him to interview both Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, two leaders in the Indian campaign for independence from Britain, who both expressed support for the American Black civil rights movement.  

After returning to the States, Bolden received numerous offers from major news publications as a result of his prominent reporting during the war. He turned them all down, however, to take up his old beat on the Hill again. His reporting for the Courier in the post-war era often focused on the lack of Black police officers in Pittsburgh, and his campaign for this cause resulted in the promotion of the first Black lieutenant on the force.  

Bolden died in 2003 in Squirrel Hill, just a few miles away from where he did his reporting on Wylie Ave. His work has proved to be an invaluable resource to researchers of the area over the years, and he was not the only Courier writer who has served in some way as an amateur historian. 

Joel Augustus Rogers

Joel Augustus Rogers, according to the African American Registry, “probably did more popularize African history than any writer of the 20th century.” Originally from Jamaica, the writer, journalist, and amateur historian’s books and Courier articles became a powerful force in American race relations. In 1927, Robert Vann sent Rogers on an international tour of Europe and Africa for the paper. There he would experience the differences between European, African, and American approaches to race, as well as visit culturally important cities like Rome, Berlin, Casablanca, Paris, Cairo, and more. He recorded his travels in Europe and the knowledge he gained there for his audience back in Pittsburgh, many of whom would have never been able to experience such things for themselves. 

It was these international tours that allowed him to continue his research in the history of the African diaspora as well. When he returned to America, he would partner with cartoonist George L. Lee to create a Courier column to share his discoveries in African history with its readers. The result was titled “Your History” and ran from 1934 to 1966. The column’s mantra, “Your history dates back beyond the cotton fields; back thousands of years before the time of Christ”, ran at the top of every new installment and preceded the charming illustrations and captions which detailed the role of Black men and women throughout world history. The column was praised for its accessibility to the average person as well as its pioneering spirit in a time when Black history was not widely studied or taught. Lee’s bold, compelling designs confronted the racial stereotyping common in cartoons then and made “Your History” a perfect example of the kind of representation the Courier fought for. 

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Bell Zonia Cutler Wilson was born in 1894 in Spear, North Carolina, to Jacob and Sarah Eller Twitty Cutler. Her mother, called Eller, was a respected midwife and healer in their small Appalachian mountain community. The family owned a substantial plot of land; in fact, Zonia’s father was the only Black landowner in the area. Today a scenic nature spot known as Cutler Falls still bears the family name.

Though by all accounts her family was a loving one, Zonia’s childhood was not easy. Scraping together a living in the isolated mountains was a constant challenge, and racial discrimination placed an additional burden on families like the Cutlers. During the years of World War I, many men in the community left for military service or work in the area’s mines, leaving women like Zonia to sustain the household. 

Her young adult life was further marred by sexual violence and wrongful imprisonment, the latter possibly part of an effort to seize her family’s land. For a time she worked as a domestic servant in the household of local politician T.D. Vance. By 1922, Zonia was a mother of three children - named Faye, Daisy, and Detroit (who went by Ray) - facing the usual challenges of parenting amidst the strains of racism and economic hardship.  

Her life would begin a new chapter in 1928, when Zonia met and married a talented musician from Tennessee named Bynam Wilson. The couple soon moved to Bramwell, West Virginia, where Bynam found work. Sadly, while living there in August 1930, the couple lost a baby boy who died shortly after birth.  A few years later in 1932, as part of the larger exodus of Black people out of the American South known as the “Great Migration,” Bynam and Zonia moved north to Pittsburgh, settling in the Hill District.

All of Zonia's children adopted the Wilson surname, and she embraced her role as a housewife in their residence on Logan Street. There she raised three more sons, named John, Franklin, and George. The family thrived in their community, with Zonia especially enjoying attending movies at the nearby Rhumba Theater, where her sons worked

It was in the Hill in 1945 that Zonia's daughter, Daisy, gave birth to a boy she named Frederick August Kittel, Jr., after his father.  By that time, Zonia had come to reside across the street from Daisy on Bedford Avenue, at the home of professional boxer Charlie Burley and his wife Julia. 

At the age of 20, young Frederick Kittel, Jr. would change his name to August Wilson - the name under which he later became one of America’s most celebrated playwrights. Though Zonia died when he was only five years old, August Wilson often recounted tales of his grandmother’s journey northward, and drew upon her memory as a link to the family’s Southern past. He paid tribute to her through the character of 11-year old Zonia Loomis in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, a play focused on themes of migration to the North and the Black struggle for freedom.

Zonia Cutler Wilson's life came to a close in March 1950 at Charlie Burley's house on Bedford Avenue.  She was buried in Greenwood Cemetery north of the city. August Wilson, along with his sisters Freda and Linda Jean, paid for a headstone remembering her as “Grandma” - a final act of honor to mark her resting place for those coming after.

It is not an overstatement to say that without Zonia’s courage, resilience, and determination to seek a better life, the world may never have known the creative works of August Wilson that have given so many an understanding of the Black experience in America. 

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In 1968, student activist at the University of Pittsburgh founded the Black Action Society (BAS), an organization to serve the needs and interests of Black students by building community and “providing educational, political, and social programming relative to the Black experience.”

As part of this effort, Pitt's BAS developed an arts organization to support Black writers, artists and performers. This idea was modeled after the Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem, founded in 1965 by playwright and poet Amiri Baraka, usually considered the founding of a national Black Arts Movement.

The BAS would meet at a restaurant called the Pan Fried Fish on Wylie Ave. Known for having the best fish sandwiches for miles around, the restaurant was a gathering spot for students and artists in the neighborhood to express themselves freely, creating music, poetry, and art under a united cause.

A Grand Entrance

One night, artist and native resident Frank Floyd Hightower was exhibiting his photography and leading a discussion on his work at the restaurant when he met August Wilson, Rob Penny, and Curtiss E. Porter, who were playwrights, social activists, and artists in their own right. Penny and Porter were also co-directors of the University of Pittsburgh's Africana Studies Program. That same night, they also met Sala Udin and Sakina Abdul A’la, an actress and women’s rights advocate. This group of friends became instrumental in the local Black Arts movement and together founded Black Horizon Theatre. Their goal was to establish a community theater aimed at raising social consciousness within the Black community and the world. 

The A. Leo Weil School auditorium at 2250 Centre Ave became home to Black Horizon Theatre, and they staged plays there from 1968 to 1972. The school’s principal allowed them to use the auditorium at no charge.

Black Horizon Theatre Company portrayed characters struggling with inequality, opening the audience’s and community’s eyes to the constant obstacles African Americans faced. The company initially charged only 50 cents for admission to their plays. “We literally went into the street a half hour before the show and talked people into going in,” recalled Wilson years later. “Once they got in, they really liked it.”

August Wilson's Contributions

Black Horizon Theatre dispersed by the mid-1970s. In 1975, Dr. Vernell A. Lillie, a University of Pittsburgh professor, continued Black Horizons’ legacy by founding the Kuntu Repertory Theatre.

The following year, August Wilson brought his early playwriting effort, Homecoming, to Kuntu. It was his first play to be produced by a resident company at the University of Pittsburgh. Wilson won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his Broadway show Fences and later won a second Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for The Piano Lesson.

While Wilson was the most prominent author to come out of the Pittsburgh Black Arts scene and Black Horizon Theatre, it is important to recognize and appreciate the Black Horizon Theater, and the creative collaborators who helped shape and nurture his remarkable talent. 

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In the late 1960s, Pittsburgh’s Hill District became the birthplace of an innovative architectural project. Spearheaded by visionary architect Troy West, this initiative sought to use architecture as a means of fostering social change in urban communities.

Troy West was no ordinary architect. After studying at Carnegie-Mellon University and working alongside renowned figures like Louis Kahn, West returned to Pittsburgh with a clear mission: to partner with disadvantaged communities in challenging the top-down approach often associated with urban development. His vision took shape in the Hill District through a project called Architecture 2001, which embraced inclusive and participatory design to rehabilitate the neighborhood.

Architecture 2001 brought together an eclectic and diverse team. In addition to architects, the group included a psychologist, a lawyer, and a carpenter who had honed his skills while incarcerated. They were supported by local youth and members of the community, all working toward a shared goal—to create a functional, inspiring space known as the "Court of Ideas" at 2001 Center Avenue. The team didn’t just build; they also provided vocational training in construction, offered rehabilitation programs for those struggling with drug addiction, and improved local housing conditions.

The Court of Ideas itself was an architectural experiment, featuring sloping geometric concrete plinths, forum-like spaces, and a series of mini-stages and seating areas—all covered in vibrant orange carpeting. According to project leader Dick Morton, community reactions during construction were mixed. “People came around to see that we had enough water, and kids came to watch with their dogs. But others would stand whole days and laugh. To them, it was a big joke. They were sure it would not work. Now, everyone wants to be part of it.”

Despite early skepticism, the Court of Ideas quickly became a cultural hub. It hosted poetry readings, political rallies, Christmas parties, and musical concerts featuring renowned artists like Art Blakey and Abbey Lincoln. Architects and designers from around the world visited the site, drawn to its innovative approach to public space and community engagement.

For residents of the Hill District, the Court of Ideas became a source of hope. Troy West emphasized the significance of this grassroots effort, stating, “The best part about this is that it’s being built from within. The people are doing it themselves.”

One of the most compelling success stories to emerge from the experiment was that of Charles ‘Chuck’ Dial. A former drug addict, Dial turned his life around through his involvement with the project. Initially hired as a construction supervisor, Dial also found stability, overcame his addiction, and became a role model for others in the community.

While today the Court of Ideas site is empty, its lessons about the value of community-driven design, collaboration, and inclusivity still remain, and offer practical insights for community leaders looking to create spaces that serve and uplift local residents.

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The history of Catholic education in the Hill begins on July 28, 1889, when Fr. Patrick McDermott rented a house on Fulton Street in the Hill District and converted it into a church and school.  

That same year the Sisters of Mercy, an international order of nuns, started a day program for education and learning at the school. The Sisters of Mercy was founded in 1831 by Catherine McAuley, and vowed to serve those who suffer from poverty, sickness and lack of education. In 1941, they began offering social services and catechetical instruction in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

In the 1950s, the St. Richard’s School was predominantly African American. August Wilson, the Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright who grew up in the Hill, attended St. Richard’s School from third to seventh grade.  Visiting the school years later to speak with students, he recalled that his sixth grade teacher, Sister Christopher, was the first teacher who encouraged him to pursue writing.  He would later sponsor poetry and play writing contests for the students.

Era of Change

The movement of much of the white Catholic population out of the Hill in the decades after World War II had a major impact on the Catholic presence in the neighborhood. Hill Catholic parishes underwent several consolidations. St. Brigid and Holy Trinity parish were merged in 1958 after the demolition of the Holy Trinity church as part of the Lower Hill Redevelopment project. The new St. Brigid parish was itself merged with St. Benedict the Moor a decade later, to form St. Brigid-St. Benedict the Moor.

Catholic schools in the neighborhood also merged during the period, eventually consolidating as the Hill District Catholic School in 1973 at 2900 Bedford Ave. The school was not large, comprising fewer than 200 students. A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profile in 1973 noted that Hill District Catholic’s students “are black; only one-third are Catholic, and most come from homes that statisticians would consider economically and socially disadvantaged.”  The feature noted that many parents of limited means sacrificed to send their children to the school, believing the education to be of superior quality to the public school options available.  Despite this, the school struggled financially; in 1975, a $20,000 budget shortage nearly resulted in its closing.

In 1977, the parishes of St. Richard’s and St. Brigid-St. Benedict the Moor eventually consolidated into one entity, establishing St. Benedict the Moor as the parish of the Hill. Hill District Catholic was rededicated as St. Benedict the Moor School in 1978.

Financial Stability and Continued Success

While St. Benedict school gained some financial stability in the 1980s, it still struggled to pay the bills, especially as the subsidy provided by the diocese steadily declined.  In 1990, Pittsburgh-area corporate leaders formed the Extra Mile Foundation to raise funds for urban Catholic education, and meet the needs of poor families who depend on the Catholic schools in their neighborhoods.  Support from the foundation has provided essential financial stability since its creation.

A 2005 independent study of the school’s graduates over the previous 10 years found a strong record of academic success at St. Benedict’s. Two-thirds of its students went on to public high school and one-third to Catholic high schools. The study found no graduate from St. Benedict the Moor School ever had to repeat ninth grade, and that 92 percent graduated from high school. More than half pursued higher education.

In the summer of 2011, the Extra Mile Foundation purchased the vacant Robert Lee Vann Public School building at 631 Watt Street for $350,000 as a new home for St. Benedict The Moor School. The Vann building provided greater space to enable St. Benedict Catholic School to again expand its outreach and to start a pre-kindergarten program.

Conclusion

Like the Hill District itself, the story of St. Benedict the Moor Catholic School is one of resilience and perseverance. From its humble beginnings in 1889 to its transformation over the course of the 20th century, through several different names and locations, the school has served as a community beacon, providing quality education to generations of students.

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Throughout its history, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) has had a focus of providing quality support to working class men survive the harsh conditions that they were facing. When it was founded in 1851, the YMCA had strong goals to bring support and services to the working class. Unfortunately, the services and lodgings that were offered by the YMCA were heavily segregated. When William Hunton became the first black full time secretary of the YMCA in 1888, he faced the challenges of establishing a place for African Americans under the YMCA’s segregated policies. This led to the birth of a movement that focused on creating “semi-autonomous African American YMCA system,” that no longer focused on the “seemingly futile goals of participation with whites, and instead advocated self-help and racial solidarity.” YMCAs built under this philosophy were to serve as pillars in African American communities and would  “Shield black men from the humiliations of lingering racism and segregationist policies.” This required Hunton and others to fundraise and attract benefactors willing to offer aid to those communities seeking to build their YMCA. After a lengthy process of successfully fundraising the required funds to purchase a site and having the structure built, the Pittsburgh’s African American YMCA affiliate officially joined this legacy as the Centre Avenue YMCA in 1923.

A Slow Decline

Regardless of the opportunities and services the Central Avenue YMCA provided the residents of the Hill District, membership began to steadily decline in the late 1950s. The changes began with the Urban Renewal projects in the Lower Hill, forcing many members to relocate. As the “separate but equal” doctrine in the YMCA’s policy on membership and attendance dissipated due to the success of the Civil Rights movement, many middle class African Americans chose membership at the better funded YMCAs that had once been segregated. The later collapse of the steel industry in the 1970s and 80s meant more people could not afford to use the Y’s services. This turmoil would cause an upsurge in substance abuse and criminal activity in the late 80s and early 90s for the Hill. The Central Avenue YMCA provided a place for transitional housing and provided support services for people fighting substance abuse and mental illness, causing a shift from recreational and community activities to community services. However it was designated a City Historic Infrastructure in 1995.

Rebuilding

Later, in 2012, a new YMCA was built on Central Ave and named after Thelma Lovette. Lovette was a prominent activist in Pittsburgh who heavily involved herself with the local YMCA as the first woman on the Central Ave Board. As of today, the Centre Avenue YMCA no longer functions in the same capacity as it once did.  This does not mean that it has lost all of its original principles.  In 2020, it was announced that a partnership between the YMCA and ACTION Housing, with help from $7.4 million provided by over 20 agencies, would transform the Historic Centre Avenue building into a low-income residency for African American men. This renovation allowed the building to continue its mission of being a safe refuge to African American men who require the safety of its walls. 

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In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Pittsburgh’s newsstands suffered from a serious lack of quality Black papers. Out of the six white dailies in the city, only one included Black news. The Pittsburgh Press’ segregated “Afro-American News” column was far from ideal however, and the little reporting that the Press did offer mostly consisted of sensational accounts of crimes, affairs, and other sordid material which hardly painted the Black community in a favorable light.

This all would change when Nathaniel Edward Harleston, a security guard at the H.J. Heinz food packing facility, began a newspaper as a way to publish some of his poetry. With the help of a couple of friends from the Heinz plant, the first official issue of the Courier was printed on January 15, 1910. Just a few years later, Harelston’s new paper would expand to include headquarters at 1212 Wylie Ave (though this would later move downtown), and its own publishing plant at 2628 Centre Ave.

With such deep roots in the largest historically Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh, it is no surprise that The Pittsburgh Courier would become one of the most prominent voices in Black America within just a few decades. Not only would the paper go on to provide a rich account of Black life over the years, it would also serve as an instrument of agency in the fight for civil rights.

A Fight for Rights

Much of the Courier’s early reputation as a “crusader” paper for Black rights can be attributed to its first editor, Robert Lee Vann.

One reporter, Edna Chappel, was even assigned to visit businesses in the greater Western Pennsylvania area and write about her experiences of discrimination there because of her race.

Vann was the first African American to graduate from University of Pittsburgh’s school of law, and he was one of only five Black lawyers in Pittsburgh at the time. After helping to find investors and using his law expertise to draw up the incorporation papers, Vann took over as editor of the Courier when Harleston left in late 1910. 

From the very beginning, Vann made his vision for the Courier clear; the paper would serve to “abolish every vestige of Jim Crowism in Pittsburgh”, as he wrote in an early editorial. In the first years, he would use his writing to address pressing issues in the Hill District, calling for a Black building and loan association as well as a Black hospital to combat the housing and health crises there. 

A future politician himself, (he would serve as Assistant Attorney General in the Roosevelt administration), Vann called for the readers of his paper to organize in politics. When the Courier began to have national influence in the early 30s, Vann’s writings carried increasing weight in Black politics. His opinion in one 1932 editorial that “negroes have changed their political philosophy... This year I see them voting a Democratic ticket” has even been credited by some historians with significantly contributing to Roosevelt’s victory later that year. 

This foray into national affairs continued into the mid-20th century, as the Courier began to report more and more on the Civil Rights movement across the country. They covered stories like the Scottsboro Boys, Brown v. Board, and the campaigns of A. Phillip Randolph, while their sports reporters doggedly followed Black boxer Joe Louis as he won repeated victories in the ring. 

The Courier reported on local injustice towards African Americans as well. They frequently covered the Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh’s Negro League baseball team, and fought for major league desegregation in their editorials. One reporter, Edna Chappel, was even assigned to visit businesses in the greater Western Pennsylvania area and write about her experiences of discrimination there because of her race. 

The Courier was known for hiring young, Black talent like Chappel who might never have been given a job at another paper. Famous Pittsburgh photographer Charlie “Teenie” Harris was briefly employed at the paper, as well as William Gardner Smith, a novelist who spent time in the company of other great Black authors like James Baldwin and Richard Wright. Other reporters at the Courier are less well known, but their work was foundational for the paper. 

Later Years

After the death of Robert Vann in 1940, the paper did not find an executive editor who could match its first in passion and vision until Percival L. Prattis accepted the executive editorship in 1956. Prattis had worked at the Courier for years prior, and had already been instrumental in its development before becoming editor. Vann had originally hired him in 1935 after seeing his impressive work at the Courier’s rival Black paper, The Chicago Defender, where Prattis had been city editor. Prattis used his connections in Chicago to expand the circulation of the Courier in the Midwest, where the paper had previously struggled to find distributors in its competition with the Defender. 

Before he became executive editor, Prattis reported on reconstruction after the war. He heavily covered the creation of the United Nations, even personally attending the founding conference in San Francisco. He also reported on the conflicts in the Middle East, something which was not often seen in Black papers. 

In the mid-1950s, the advancement of the Civil Rights movement was beginning to convince many establishment white papers to take Black news more seriously. As competition with these white dailies increased, the Courier began to struggle financially. Despite this, Prattis increased the circulation to a peak of 350,000 copies, with 14 editions nationwide. This likely is due to his aggressive style; under Prattis, the Courier reported stories of injustice which its competitors were simply unwilling to publish.

Eventually, the Courier’s money troubles proved too much to overcome, however, and the paper was sold in 1966 to John Sengstacke, owner of the Defender. He relaunched the paper the next year as The New Pittsburgh Courier. By then, many of its finest reporters and editors had left, including Prattis and Bolden, and the paper would never again reclaim its previous quality or national influence. 

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George Benson is a renowned jazz guitarist who has won ten Grammys, recorded a certified triple platinum album, and worked with the likes of Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Quincy Jones over the course of his career. He is also the child of a poor, single mother from Pittsburgh, who got his start in music at seven years old, playing ukulele at a corner drugstore in the Hill. 

Born in the Hill in 1943, George Benson grew up “in the heart of the ghetto,” as he would later describe it, with his mother at a hotel on Gilmore Way. The hotel was demolished during the building of the Civic Arena less than a decade later. Records from the 1950 census indicate that George’s mother worked in night service, likely at the hotel where they lived. The small family was happy but poor, and as a child Benson had a job selling newspapers at a stand right across from Stanley’s Bar, where jazz legends like Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, and Billy Eckstine played.

When he began school at Letsche Elementary, his music teachers quickly discovered his natural talent as a singer - they would often ask “Little Georgie” to sing for his classmates. He experimented with teaching himself any instrument that was available, including the hotel lobby piano and an old violin, but it wasn’t until his stepfather Tom Collier took an interest in his music and gave him a ukulele that his talent really exploded. It was with this instrument that he began to attract attention. After earning three dollars with an impromptu performance at Goode’s Drug Store on Wylie Ave, his stepfather assisted his budding career by booking gigs for him at clubs like the Little Paris and would even join him on stage occasionally.

Benson soon graduated from ukulele to playing whatever guitars he could get his hands on—his first electric guitar was made out of “his mother’s hope chest with a used tape recorder for an amplifier”—and he cut his first record in New York with RCA Victor at the tender young age of nine. For his recording name, he used the same nickname his elementary music teachers gave him: Little George.

As he grew older, he would go on to play and tour with organist Jack McDuff in clubs like the famous Hurricane Bar. Benson signed with a few labels in his early 20s, and played with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Stanley Turrentine because of the connections he made there.  He was mainly known as an instrumentalist until the recording of his smash hit album 1976 Breezin’, where he sang on “This Masquerade”, for which he won Record of the Year at the 1976 Grammys.

Nobody could love Pittsburgh more…I’ve seen what a town like this can produce.
-George Benson

Benson is a dynamic and passionate guitarist. While those well-versed in jazz guitar canon will certainly be able to hear inspiration from players like Wes Montgomery or Grant Green in his stylings, Benson builds on the ideas of jazz greats before him to create something unique and personal. Folks who played with him said he possessed an extraordinary sense of “swing” when he was playing jazz standards, and he was a sought after player for any band because of his speed and agility on the guitar. His most famous technique was his ability to “play in unison”, or play a melody line on his instrument while he sang the same melody. This style can be heard on tracks like 1980’s “Give Me the Night” or “This Masquerade”, and made Benson stand out as both a guitarist and singer.

He is also known for incorporating jazz into popular music. This has drawn criticism from many jazz purists, but Benson, as well contemporaries like Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, and Ramsey Lewis, saw a shift to more popular stylings as necessary to preserve an interest in jazz, which was beginning to die out by the time the late 70s and 80s rolled around. “I’m aware of the limited audience for real jazz music,” he once told The Pittsburgh Courier. “I play something my audience wants to hear first, and I play jazz in-between.”

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When most people think of jazz drummer Art Blakey, they might think of his unique and influential style of playing, or his years spent with his wildly popular band the Jazz Messengers. What often goes unnoticed are his roots in the Hill.

Blakey was born on October 11, 1919 in Pittsburgh to a single mother who died soon after he was born. He was raised by a family friend, not learning until years later that his foster mother was not his biological mother. Growing up in a home on Chauncey Street, he received some piano lessons in school, and gained musical experience in his foster family’s Seventh-Day Adventist Church. His uncle, Rubi Blakey, was a well known choir director in the area - in the late 1930s the elder Blakey put on several concerts with his group at venues like the Warren Methodist United Church in the Hill and Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall. 

As a young teen, Art worked in the Carnegie steel mills, an experience he later described as one he “would like to forget.” His talent for music soon gave him a route out of the rough industrial work that was common in Pittsburgh, and by the time he was 14, Art was making money playing at clubs in the Hill. He started with piano, but soon switched to the drums when fellow Pittsburgh jazz legend Errol Garner needed a drummer for a gig. 

While gaining a variety of experience in Pittsburgh nightclubs, Blakey was still working other jobs to make ends meet. At 18, he married his first wife, Clarice Stewart and began a family. The 1940 U.S. Census locates the Blakey family, including two young daughters, living in the Hill at 613 Boone Way (a location eventually demolished as part of the 1950s Lower Hill redevelopment project), and lists Art’s primary occupation as a road construction laborer for the Works Progress Administration.  The census record also identifies 3 of Clarice’s siblings and an unrelated lodger at the same address, suggesting the young family’s straitened circumstances. 

In the early 1940s, however, Art began to gain steadier employment as a musician, securing a residency with Alyce Brooks in a group called the “Rhythm Maniacs” at the Coobus Club (later renamed the Celebrity) on Centre Avenue. He also toured with Mary Lou Williams, a jazz pianist and composer from East Liberty. By 1943, he began to work in Fletcher Henderson’s big band, though he would soon move on the next year to play with Billy Eckstine, another Pittsburgh native. Art would later drum for the likes of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, and in the mid-50s he formed his own band, the Jazz Messengers. 

Art’s drumming was intense and passionate. His playing provided every tune with a raw bed of energy which fed into the solos of other band members. He was also an innovator; contemporaries credit Art with being among the first to master complex musical stylings like polyrhythms, and he was said to be a master of maintaining independence between all four limbs while drumming. Critics have labeled his music as “hard bop”, a faster, more aggressive variant of be-bop which was reminiscent of jazz’s roots in the blues. In a time when jazz audiences were becoming increasingly white, Art’s music managed to captivate a mostly Black audience. His bluesy style of playing was a return to the beginnings of jazz, and can be considered a revival of the Black ballroom scene.

While his playing style was distinctive and influential, Blakey’s role as a bandleader and mentor was an equally important legacy.

Even when I was playing with Miles Davis, Art was the strength of the band.
-Jackie McLean, saxophonist

  His keen eye for talent led him to invest in many young jazz musicians who would go on to become legends in their own right. Folks like Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, and Joanne Brackeen were all shaped by Art over the years as part of his band. Wynton Marsalis credited his time playing with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers as influential in his choice to pursue jazz instead of classical music. The musicians Blakey worked with saw him as the core of any group he was a part of; as saxophonist Jackie McLean put it, “Even when I was with Miles Davis, Art was the strength of the band.” In addition to developing the members of his band as musicians, Art became almost like a father figure to many. Javon Jackson, a member of the Jazz Messengers in the late 80’s, told the New York Times that Art “taught [him] to be a man, how to stand up and be accounted for.” 

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The Weil School, named after prolific Pittsburgh lawyer Adolphus Leo Weil, was designed by Marion M. Steen in 1942. Members of the Hill District's arts community, including Rob Penny, August Wilson, and Sala Udin, ran the Black Horizon Theater out of Weil's auditorium. August Wilson directed several of the company's plays, which featured works from Black playwrights Amiri Baraka, Ed Bullins, and Rob Penny himself.

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The Hill House Association served as a community development organization and played a vital role in the Hill for more than 50 years.  Hill House formed in 1964 from the merger of three pre-existing organizations: the Soho Community Center, the Anna B. Heldman Center, and the Hill City Youth Municipality.

In 1972, the Hill House’s new headquarters was completed on Centre Avenue. In addition to health and human service agencies, the association offered personal development classes on site.

The organization was closely intertwined with the Hill District's Black community; the building itself was designed by Black architect Walter Lenox Roberts Jr., and many of the association's managers and tenants were Black leaders.

The bureaucratic aspects of Hill House are briefly mentioned in an exchange in August Wilson's Radio Golf.

"They tell you, 'Sit over there and wait.' 'Fill out this  paper.' 'Turn over.' 'Jump up and down.' I tried to tell them I wasn't no dog but they wasn't listening." -Old Joe, Radio Golf

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For over a century, Pittsburgh’s Black Catholics have found a literal sanctuary at St. Benedict the Moor, a church named for the patron saint of African Americans.

The late 19th century saw the emergence of the “Colored Conventions” movement - a series of national conventions organized by Black leaders and focused on a variety of social and political issues. 

As many of the Hill District’s older white residents left the neighborhood, St. Benedict the Moor’s clergy and the Diocese listened and learned how to adapt the liturgies for Black traditions, including a gospel choir which performs weekly.

Among these was the Colored Catholic Congress, first held January 1889 in Washington, DC to address racial discrimination within the American Catholic church.  Moved by these efforts, Fr. Patrick McDermott, CSSp, created a mission as part of the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost (now Duquesne University) in July 1889. The Black parish met in several church buildings through the years, until in 1962 the Diocese of Pittsburgh reopened the former Holy Trinity Church building as a new permanent home for St. Benedict the Moor parish.

At the time of the move, the Hill District was still trying to rebuild its community and find a way forward from the destruction wrought by the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority when it cleared much of the Lower Hill during the late 1950s for the construction of the city’s Civic Arena. The corner of Centre Avenue and Crawford Street became the “line drawn in the sand” for Hill residents, who organized to prevent further clearance and redevelopment of the Hill at a place now known as Freedom Corner. St. Benedict the Moor Church became a symbolic landmark as Black Pittsburghers of all faiths and their allies rallied and marched for equality and civil rights protections from the church's front steps.

In late 1968, the Diocese of Pittsburgh installed the eighteen-foot-tall statue of St. Benedict the Moor atop the church’s bell tower. St. Benedict the Moor was born as Benedetto Manasseri near Messina, Italy. His parent were Africans who had been enslaved in the early 16th Century and taken to San Fratello, a part of the region of Sicily, Italy. Although persecuted because of his race, he became known for generosity, feeding the hungry, and conducting miracles. The statue was commissioned by Bishop John Wright and funded through a donation from an “anonymous Protestant donor of one of Pittsburgh’s oldest families.” Sculpted by Frederick Charles Shandy, the statue depicts St. Benedict facing the Golden Triangle with arms spread wide.  The symbolism of the statue has been interpreted in various ways - some intepret it as a rebuke of downtown and its neglect of the Hill, while others argue the statue is in a posture of welcoming and embrace. "At the precise boundary between these two worlds," said Rev. John Wright, bishop of Pittsburgh, in 1968, "the hands of a black Christian saint, St. Benedict the Moor, will be lifted in gestures of forgiveness, prayer, and peace over the Pittsburgh community." 

As many of the Hill District’s older white residents left the neighborhood, St. Benedict the Moor’s clergy and the Diocese listened and learned how to adapt the liturgies for Black traditions, including a gospel choir which performs weekly. St. Benedict the Moor was also the first parish in the Diocese of Pittsburgh to be assigned a Black priest, Fr. Augustus Taylor, Jr.

In addition to serving the Hill, the parish draws worshippers from throughout Greater Pittsburgh. This geographic reach is generally unheard of in the Catholic faith, where parishes are typically based upon physical residence. The Diocese had merged St. Benedict the Moor with two other parishes at the beginning of 2020, but this move was met with resistance from St. Benedict the Moor’s parishioners.  Both clergy and the congregation saw an opportunity to preserve their traditions and petitioned the diocese to recognize St. Benedict the Moor as a “personal parish”, which distinguishes a parish with traditions additional to the usual mass structures. Bishop David Zubik approved the petition and recognized the personal parish of St. Benedict the Moor on July 13, 2020.

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