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News, events, updates, and tidbits from the Presbyterian Historical Society. Use tags to read related articles or sort by author for similar posts written by PHS staff members and volunteers.

April 25, 2023

Mary Jane Patterson was born on February 12th, 1924, in Marietta, Ohio. At that time in southern Ohio, very few African American families lived there. Mary Jane spoke of this time fondly and noted that she was not very aware of race relations growing up because she lived in an integrated town. After her high school graduation, she moved to Columbus, Ohio, where her worldview changed drastically. It was her first encounter with more extreme forms of segregation, and she became more acquainted with the blooming civil rights movement taking hold in the 1940s. 

She enrolled in...

April 4, 2023

In February, PHS welcomed BKBB Archives Intern Matty Marrow. Read the interview below to hear about Matty's experience at the Presbyterian Historical Society and click here for their full reflection.

What initially interested you in an internship at the Presbyterian Historical Society?
M: I was initially interested because I grew...

April 4, 2023

In February, PHS welcomed BKBB Archives Intern Matty Marrow. Read a reflection on their internship below and click here for an interview with Matty.

Throughout my internship, I honestly have grown so much more than I thought I would. I came in expecting to get some general knowledge of how an archive operates, and explore the ways that different...

March 29, 2023
Left: Katie Geneva Cannon, 1995. [Pearl ID: 171115]  Right: Portrait of Phyllis Wheatley c. 1753. Image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

--by Matty Marrow

The passage below details a monumental moment in not just Black American history, but the history of Black American women. It can be found repeatedly, almost word for word, in the works of Katie Geneva Cannon...

March 10, 2023
Rev. Daniel Sanders c. 1890. Image courtesy of the Charlotte Mecklenberg Library.

--by Matty Marrow

Daniel Jackson Sanders, of Winnsboro, South Carolina, was a devout Presbyterian, a champion for education, and dedicated to the advancement of his race. His story of unlikely success began with birth on February 15th, 1847, into slavery. He was owned by the same man as his...

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