Promoting the significance of the New Philadelphia National Historic Site and its African American founders Frank and Lucy McWorter, in the struggle for freedom, supported by historical and archeological research. In 1996, concerned citizens began to work together to preserve, protect, and educate the public about the legacy of Frank McWorter, his family and the remarkable town they founded and le
gally registered in 1836. In 2022 the NPA’s decades long efforts for national recognition of New Philadelphia succeeded. President Biden signed into law legislation designating the site as the New Philadelphia National Historic Site, a unit of the prestigious National Park Service system (NPS), elite properties hailed as our nation’s cultural and natural crown jewels. The McWorters and New Philadelphia have been honored since 2017 with a permanent display in the prestigious and revered Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington D C for their contributions to the westward expansion of our country in the “Many Voices, One Nation” exhibit. New Philadelphia is also represented in the Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture in the Community Gallery’s “Stories Across the Landscape” exhibit. New Philadelphia is one of ten places that tell the story of African American resilience in their struggle to create places of their own. New Philadelphia is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, designated a National Historic Landmark and included in the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. McWorter descendant and interim NPA president, Gerald McWorter (Dr. Abdul lAlkalimat), is recognized for his work as a pioneer in the discipline of African Studies. His 1986 landmark publication, Afro-American Studies: A Peoples College Primer, the first textbook in the discipline, is included in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s “Changing America” exhibition. In conjunction with the NPS, the restructured NPA remains committed to preserve, protect and educate the public about the McWorter legacy in the struggle for freedom, opportunity and the love for family. The family’s freedom story began in earnest in 1817 when Frank manumitted, through his own enterprises, his wife Lucy, ensuring that the child she was carrying and subsequent children would be born free. Frank purchased his own freedom in 1819 and traded his lucrative salt peter mining operation in 1829 to secure freedom for his eldest son young Frank, who was living as a freedom seeker in Canada. In 1830, the freed members of the McWorter family risked capture by unscrupulous slave catchers to leave the slave state of Kentucky and move to the free state of Illinois, to property they bought sight unseen. The 1880 History of Illinois and Pike County, reported: “The first settler in this township after the Indians had been driven Westward, was not a white man, but a colored one.” Frank founded New Philadelphia with the intention of selling the lots to buy freedom for family members left behind enslaved in Kentucky. Over time, including Frank himself, at least sixteen family members were released from bondage. NPA remains dedicated to telling the story of this unique place, the first town platted and legally registered by an African American. A place where the first non-indigenous settler in its township was a Black man; a place where African Americans and European Americans lived side by side in era and area of intense racial strife. In the fight against slavery, New Philadelphia and area residents harbored, concealed and helped freedom seekers escape bondage. Telling the story of New Philadelphia contributes to a more complete and accurate account of our nation’s history.
