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    21st Century Drexel

    Beginning in the mid-1990s, Drexel University rebounded from financial and reputational decline to become a thriving, multifaceted hub of education and urban revival.

    The West Philadelphia Initiatives

    At the turn of the Millennium, the University of Pennsylvania, under President Judith Rodin, orchestrated the West Philadelphia Initiatives, a proactive, multipronged strategy to improve social and economic conditions in Penn’s neighborhood of University City.

    Neighborhood and Community Development

    Under President John Fry, Drexel adopted a two-prong approach to neighborhood community development—creating a university-assisted middle school and a neighborhood center to connect community partners with Drexel resources.

    Commercial Building Boom

    In the 2010s Drexel launched a building boom of mixed-use commercial developments along Chestnut Street and on streets that intersected with the campus.

    Upward and Eastward Expansion

    Drexel’s plans for expansion under president John Fry focus on building upward in the campus core and—in a visionary plan for long-term development—eastward over the old Pennsylvania Railroad railyards.

    Black and white photo portrait of adult Paul Robeson, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and white-speckled dark tie.
    Heroic Civil Rights Icons in West Philadelphia

    Three heroic Civil Rights icons—Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—left formidable imprints on West Philadelphia. These biographies sketch out their lives and contributions, emphasizing their common ground as precursors to Black Lives Matter movement and the 1619 Project.

    Black and white photo of Elijah Muhammad standing behind a podium with several microphones. He is wearing a white shirt with a bow tie, a dark suit jacket, and an embroidered dark brimless hat. He is cleanshaven.
    Elijah Muhammad

    Elijah Muhammad standing behind microphones at a podium.

    Black and white photo of Elijah Muhammad in 1964, at podium microphones, wearing a male Muslim prayer hat.
    Elijah Muhammad

    Elijah Muhammad, born Elijah Poole, a Great Migration migrant from Georgia, was founder of the Nation of Islam (NOI). Malcolm Little was a prison convert to NOI teachings.

    Groundbreaking for UCHS

    The shovel-in-hand dignitaries are University of Pennsylvania president Gaylord P. Harnwell (left), School District superintendent Mark Shedd (center) & Board of Education member George Hutt (right). Harnwell—a renowned nuclear physicist, lead organizer of the multi-institutional West Philadelphia Corporation, and powerbroker for the University City Science Center—had a heavy hand in the original plan for the new high school, which was to be a high school of science & technology affiliated with the Science Center.The building in the background is the Charles R. Drew Elementary School.

    Herman Wrice in the streets
    Herman Wrice in the Streets

    Herman Wrice in the streets with Mothers Against Drugs

    A candid black and white photo of a smiling Paul Robeson in his final years. Robeson’s pearly white teeth are prominent in the image, as are his large glasses. He is dressed in a dark wool winter coat and fedora.
    The lion in winter

    Paul Robeson a few years before his death.

    RDA Community Meeting on Unit 3

    Community meeting held by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority on Unit 3 urban renewal at Drew Elementary School.

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