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    black and white photo of Malcolm X, at three microphones, head tilted upward, clean-shaven with closely cropped hair and eyeglasses, wearing a light gray-toned suit or sports coat, white shirt, and dark tie.
    A remarkable year

    Malcolm X during his fateful year of 1964—the year marked by his formal break with the Nation of Islam and his pilgrimage to Mecca.

    Black and white photo of Malcolm X in 1964. Shown smiling and relaxed, he stands at a microphone. He wears a light gray-tone suit or sports coat, with a dark tie. He has closely cropped hair, is clean shaven, and wears glasses.
    Malcolm X

    Malcolm X at the height of his international fame.

    Black and white photo of Malcolm X in 1964. He is standing, wearing a light corduroy jacket, a white shirt, and a dark tie. His head is tilted to his left side. Emblematic of his break with the Nation of Islam, he now has a trimmed moustache connected to a small goatee, forming a circle.
    Malcolm X

    In January 1965, Paul Robeson Jr. mediated what would have been the first meeting between Paul Sr. and Malcolm X. The Robeson–Malcolm exchange never happened, as Malcolm was assassinated a month later in Harlem. As noted by contemporary historical markers, both left their imprint on West Philadelphia.

    Unit 3 Land Use Map

    University City Urban Renewal Area Unit 3, Land Use Map

    West Mill Creek Urban Renewal Area Map
    West Mill Creek Urban Renewal Area

    This 1964 map provided by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority shows the RDA’stargeted zone for urban renewal—to be distinguished from the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Mill Creek Project (Mill Creek Homes). Note, as a landmark, Sulzberger Junior High School, at 48th & Fairmount.

    Christmas Treats for Young Patients

    Christmas treats for young patients at PGH.

    1970 Development Plan for the Drexel Institute of Technology

    Drexel's plan for 1970 development expanded the school's campus into RDA Unit 5, part of the University Redevelopment Area.

    Black and white photo of the stage in the aftermath of Malcolm’s assassination. An upturned chair is in the foreground, the wall of the stage, with several bullet holes marked by chalked circles in the background.
    Death in the afternoon

    Bullet holes in the rear of the Audubon Ballroom stage where Malcolm X was assassinated February 21, 1965.

    Black and white photo from 1965, a massive indoor venue with thousands of Nation of Islam followers. The foreground to center of the photo shows several hundred women wearing white abayas, seated in folding chairs. A banner hung in the far-left balcony reads THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH AND MUHAMMAD IS HIS PROPHET.
    Elijah Muhammad’s Discipleship

    Elijah Muhammad addressing an assembly of his Nation of Islam followers.

    Penn Graduate School of Education

    The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE), shown here as a new building in 1965, provided staff to support the operation of the Free School. The project’s first director, Aase Eriksen, was a junior member of the Penn faculty. The primary source of teachers for the Free School was Penn GSE’s Experimental Program in Urban Education, many of whose students were graduates of Ivy League colleges. Entering this Master’s-degree program in the fall of 1969, they were expected to work as part-time interns in the local schools. Yet Eriksen recruited seven of them, all White, to begin full-time teaching in the annexes in the winter of 1970. Whiteness and youthful progressivism were a source of tension with the Free School’s community board.

    Certified Urban Renewal Areas in 1965

    Urban renewal areas certified by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, as they appeared in 1965.

    University Redevelopment Area in 1965

    This map, recreated from the Redevelopment Authority's 1965 Annual Report, represents the approximate boundaries of the major initiatives from 1948–1965.

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