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Pennsylvania Hall
Pennsylvania Hall was built by the state's Anti-Slavery Society in 1838 with the aid of hundreds of contributors. One message at the jubilant dedication ceremony on May 14 was written by former President John Quincy Adams, who hoped the hall would be a place where liberty and equality of civil rights could "be freely discussed and the evils of slavery fearlessly portrayed." Hopes for the hall were soon dashed. By the evening of May 17, three days after its opening, it was in flames. Because blacks and whites sat together in the building discussing abolition and walked arm in arm in the neighborhood, some white Philadelphians were incensed. Arsonists torched the hall and city firemen only watched and sprayed water to protect neighboring buildings as the hall burned to the ground. |