New Philadelphia, IL: Let America Be America Again
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Location: Zoom™
Join the Clarence Mitchell Library for “New Philadelphia, IL: Let America Be America Again” with speakers Gerald McWorter and Kate Williams-McWorter.
The Black History Month presentation will focus on New Philadelphia, IL, the first town founded by a formerly enslaved Black man. Founder Frank McWorter bought his pregnant wife, then himself, and 14 other family members out of slavery. The town became a stop on the Underground Railroad and home to descendants of Africa and Europe.
Gerald McWorter is Frank’s great-great-grandson as well as a founder of the field of Black Studies. Kate Williams-McWorter is the great-great-granddaughter of a man who stopped an 1860 lynching in Texas, as well as a professor of library studies.
Gerald McWorter and Kate Williams-McWorter’s book, “New Philadelphia” is available for purchase here.