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WHYY's ties to the abolitionist movement Did you know that WHYY has a venerable connection with African-American history? WHYY's Sixth Street building is located on the former site of Pennsylvania Hall, an important meeting place for abolitionists in Philadelphia. (If you try to see the building now, you'll discover that it's under reconstruction to make way for the future digital broadcast technology center.) Pennsylvania Hall opened on May 14th, 1838. There was to be a three-day opening convention, celebrating the new unity effort being made by many of the organizations concerned with the abolition of slavery. One of the largest crowds ever assembled in Philadelphia attended the opening ceremony.

A fiery end, another start However, on the third day of the convention, May 17th, a mob of nearly a thousand angry anti-abolitionists stormed the meeting hall. They threw abolitionist literature into the streets and burned the building to the ground. The destruction of Pennsylvania Hall can be seen as a commentary of the time. Race relations in Philadelphia were poor, and the building's torching was the first in a long series of racist events and acts of violence. Even though, 150 years earlier, William Penn had founded his colony as a place that would foster tolerance and religious freedom, the seeds he planted meant groups with differing values would encounter each other and occasionally conflict. So, as Philadelphians have had to do throughout their history, they were again forced to address racism, freedom and the human rights afforded by the U.S. Constitution. Though Pennsylvania Hall was only open for a few days, the memory of the meeting place is still with us today. As a reminder of those tragic and changing times, a historical plaque stands in front of WHYY's building. -Susan Chernesky Information courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.