‘We’re not the only ones doing this work’: North Philly History Fest kicks off today

Filmmaker Louis Massiah and his Scribe Video Center are spearheading the inaugural North Philadelphia History Fest this weekend so the public sees the neighborhoods of the north in a new light.

These neighborhoods are often flattened by stereotypes or sensational, quick-hit crime coverage that fails to capture “the life and culture and the exuberance of possibilities” there, Massiah said. And those tropes rob the public of a chance to appreciate North Philly’s rich past.

“And at a time when there’s a huge amount of displacement, histories get lost,” Massiah continued. “And histories get replaced.”

So Scribe, a West Philly-based community storytelling effort he founded in 1982, and a network of creatives and community groups plan to host screenings, exhibits, and visual installations across the area for the next several days. Every event is free. And they are all open to the public. (A full schedule can be found here.)

Scribe is collaborating with historic sites and advocacy groups to tell the story of the places that have long housed and anchored Black life.

“We can’t rely on the mass media; that’s not their job,” Massiah said. So part of his mission involves empowering the public to produce their own films and histories. And he has found collaborators, from Diane Turner, curator of Temple University’s Charles L. Blockson Collection, to Bradford Young, the first Oscar-nominated Black cinematographer from the U.S. for his work on Arrival.

Festival highlights include The Tenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets, an oral history docuseries set to screen in the shadow of the iconic Uptown Theater.

The Uptown long served as a landmark of the old “chitlin circuit,” uniting A-list performers with integrated audiences at a time when rigid racial conventions still found purchase in mainstream entertainment. Massiah and activist Judith Robinson, among others, plan to use space across the street to showcase the stories of public servants, community leaders, and top businesspeople who helped give North Philly its verve and vibe in decades past.

The Uptown has been largely dormant for decades. But Yumy Odom, one of several people responsible for maintaining the venue’s legacy, said the showing coincides with efforts to revive the theater and seal it off from vandals and trespassers.

Another festival offering, fellow filmmaker muthi reed’s video installation “it be your own people,” recounts Philadelphia’s role in the Great Migrations of the Depression and postwar eras. That program is housed in the Divine Lorraine, where the charismatic, controversial religious sectarian known as Father Divine opened Philadelphia’s first integrated hotel in 1948.

Other installations will live at Temple’s Charles L. Blockson Collection over the next few days, as well as at the home of Henry O. Tanner — whose paintings drew acclaim in France in the late 19th century.

Massiah is not exactly trying to strike while the iron is hot: Community histories have been his life’s work for nearly a half-century. Still, he said, he believes events like the North Philadelphia History Festival take on an added importance when Black Americans’ past is contested and historically Black neighborhoods, like those in north-central Philadelphia, are facing change.

“One of the realities of living in a city, or living anywhere, is the physical community we grew up in is part of your identity,” Massiah said. “When displacement happens due to people recapitalizing land and other factors, we lose part of our identity.”