Delve into Philadelphia’s 18th and 19th century abolition movement through joint tours of Eden Cemetery and Laurel Hill East. Explore the lives of free African Americans and self-liberating abolitionists who now rest at Eden Cemetery, like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, William Still and Richard Allen, as well as activists whose stories of resistance are undertold.

Simultaneously, discover the complexities of the era by examining the lives of those buried at Laurel Hill, including William Henry Furness, George Bryan, and Judge John Kane, whose stances and stories ranged from solidarity to lives of contradiction to anti-abolition violence.

Beyond individuals, these tours illuminate the broader societal landscape of the time as well as the site histories of Laurel Hill and Eden, which tell a story of racism in burial policies amongst cemeteries late into the 20th century and the African American response to a burial crisis. 

Join us after the tours for community conversation about legacies and how they inform what abolition means to us today. We’ll also host a workshop with Doriana Diaz, artist, archivist, and memory worker, to explore images and ideologies of Black history and culture and collage as a form of resistance.

Saturday, September 28, 11:00 AM 
Eden Cemetery Tour

Sunday, September 29, 11:00 AM 
Laurel Hill East Tour

Sunday, September 29, 1:30 PM 
Collage Workshop with Doriana Diaz at Laurel Hill East

All programs are free to attend.

• rsvp for both tours

• rsvp for Eden cemetery tour 

• rsvp laurel hill east tour 

• rsvp for collage workshop 

Abolition Histories programs are co-presented with historic Eden Cemetery. Founded in 1902 at the height of Jim Crow, today Eden is an exceptional monument to the national African American civil rights story and to Philadelphia’s 7th Ward, whose many residents are buried there. 

Presented with the support of a PECO Powering the Arts grant.