With Liberty and Justice for … A Few
Thursday, January 8 at 7pm
Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church | 916 S. Swanson St.

Philadelphia’s Black, Jewish, and Catholic residents all made major contributions to the wondrous fair celebrating America’s 150th birthday. Yet each were treated very differently by the fair’s managers and by the city government, reflecting the prejudices of America in the 1920s. Irish Catholics used the fair to trumpet their emergence into the city’s power structure. Despite their major financial and organizational contributions to the fair, Jewish residents were reviled and attacked by anti-Semites, starting with Henry Ford and his Dearborn Independent. Black Philadelphians struggled to make their presence felt given the widespread racism of the day, and saw their major projects sabotaged by fair executives. All this occurred against a backdrop that included eugenics, anti-immigration agitation, and a planned visit by 100,000 Ku Klux Klan members for their 1926 Klonvokation, all with the blessing of Philadelphia’s city fathers.