Girard College wall
The Supreme Court ruled against the school. A local court replaced its board, and the ban stayed.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
"I want to play with the other kids." Alan Bond was eight when he said that to a federal judge, who had asked why he wanted to go to the school behind this wall. The wall is ten feet high and fourteen inches thick. Stephen Girard ordered it in his will, along with two million dollars for a school for "poor white male orphans." He died in 1831, and a public board came to run it.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
2101 South College Avenue. This is a working school: see the wall from the public pavement. The Founder's Hall Museum lists walk-in hours Wednesday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm; call the school before going in.
Sources
- Girard College, Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Brown, 392 F.2d 120, Third Circuit, 1968
- Fifty years ago, Girard College admitted its first Black students, Philadelphia Inquirer, 2018
- Fifty years ago today, MLK rallied at Philly wall, Philadelphia Inquirer, 2015
- Teenagers who desegregated Girard College to be honored with a mural, WHYY, 2021
- History, Girard College
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