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Lancaster Avenue’s New Africa Center

    Contemporary color photo highlights the middle building in a row of narrow three-story buildings. This brownish-red brick structure houses the New Africa Center. A red-painted wooden canopy covers the entrance to the first floor. The name NEW AFRICA CENTER is painted in large white letters on the canopy. Smaller case letters some six inches below the name announce the building as home to the Muslim American Museum & Archive.

    West Philadelphia’s New Africa Center, 4243 Lancaster Ave., home to the Muslim American Museum & Archive. Abdul-Rahim Muhammad is founder and curator of the museum. A lifelong resident of the Belmont neighborhood, Mr. Muhammad led the initiative behind the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission markers on Lancaster Ave. commemorating 1) Muhammad Temple of Islam #12, Pennsylvania’s first Nation of Islam temple, where Malcolm X lectured and enforced Elijah Muhammad’s code of conduct; 2) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 “Freedom Now Rally.” At this writing (fall 2022), the New Africa Center is the hub for organizing a rebranding of Belmont as the “New Freedom District” dedicated to historical and cultural preservation to honor Black freedom struggles and civil rights landmarks, as well as architectural renewal and retail development in the neighborhood.

    2019
    Copyright
    CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
    Attribution/Credit

    John L. Puckett