In 1985, the City of Philadelphia did something unheard of in the United States – it dropped a bomb on one of its neighborhoods. The resulting fire killed 6 adult and 5 child members of a radical primitivist environmental anarchic group called MOVE. The fire spread along Osage Avenue, destroyed more than 60 homes, and left 250 men, women, and children homeless. Former MOVE members are interred in Nature’s Sanctuary, the green natural burial section at Laurel Hill West. Louise Leaphart James and LaVerne Leaphart Sims were sisters to the acknowledged group leader John Africa but left the organization before the conflagration. To tell their story, I must tell the story of John Africa, the formation of MOVE, and its frequent confrontations with neighbors and city officials in this month’s episode of Biographical Bytes from Bala #029: MOVE and Laurel Hill.
BBB#030: Grayce Nottage Nicholas - Black Is Beautiful
ABC#060: Three More Women Who Changed Philadelphia
ABC#059: Three More Black Pioneers
BBB#028: The Philadelphia Orchestra & Laurel Hill West
ABC#058: Laurel Hill & Big Pharma
BONUS: Anna Weightman Penfield and the Fioretta Follies
BBB#027: An Old Soul Guitarist - Jack Rose
ABC#057: Murder Most Foul, Part 1
BBB#026: The Surgeon Is a General - I.S. Ravdin
ABC#056: Philadelphia and Oil
BBB#025: Free Science for All - William Wagner
ABC#055: The Supremes - Justices at Laurel Hill
BBB#024: The Female Bobby Jones - Glenna Collett Vare
ABC#054 Hey! I Know That Song! - Composers and Interpreters
BBB#023: Philadelphia’s First Gentleman - Henry Plumer McIlhenny
ABC#053: Suited to a Tee - Golf Course Pioneers
BBB #022: Shop Until Thou Droppest - Strawbridge & Clothier: The Early Years
ABC#052: Reach for the Sky - Astronomers of Laurel Hill
BBB#021: Blood on the Tracks at Mile 59 - Duffy’s Cut
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