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Black Bottom

    A mosaic displaying a bulldozer approaching a row of houses filled with African American residents.
    Collateral Damage in Unit 3

    The University of Pennsylvania’s role in the creation of the University City Science Center in RDA Unit 3, a working-poor, majority-African American neighborhood known locally as the “Black Bottom,” severely damaged its community relations for decades to come.

    Drexel and the Creation of the University City Science Center

    The Drexel Institute had only a peripheral and grudging involvement in the creation of the University City Science Center, a project of the West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) in Unit 3.

    A mosaic displaying a bulldozer approaching a row of houses filled with African American residents.
    Black Bottom Memorial Mosaic

    A memorial for the Black Bottom neighborhood—removed for the construction of the University City Science Center in University Redevelopment Unit 3—was displayed on a wall of the University City High School until the school was demolished in 2015. More images of and information about the mural are available on philart.net.

    University Redevelopment Unit 3

    Image shows Market Street between 34th and 40th Streets following demolition for redevelopment projects. The area shown was once the heart of "Black Bottom," a former neighborhood in West Philadelphia.