Philadelphia Magazine

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City Life

The Great Philly Mag Semiquincentennial Quiz: Part 9

Welcome to the ninth installment of the Great Philly Mag Semiquincentennial Quiz. So — are you ready for World War II, the conflict that unfortunately […]

Pennsylvania is in the middle of a measles outbreak, so we take a look back at the 1991 measles outbreak in Philadelphia.
City Life

When Religion Becomes Deadly: Philly’s 1991 Measles Outbreak

     Listen to the audio edition here: Bob Ross remembers the moment vividly. The date was January 16, 1991, the same day that then-President […]

City Life

The Great Philly Mag Semiquincentennial Quiz: Part 8

Welcome to this, the eighth installment of the Great Philly Mag Semiquincentennial Quiz. We’re going straight from one cosmic conflagration — the Civil War — […]

City Life

The Great Philly Mag Semiquincentennial Quiz: Part 7

Welcome to this, the seventh installment of the Great Philly Mag Semiquincentennial Quiz. We’ve made it all the way up to the Civil War, aka […]

City Life

The Great Philly Mag Semiquincentennial Quiz: Part 6

Welcome to Month 6 of our Semiquincentennial Quiz! Hope you’ve enjoyed playing along so far. This time, we examine how the city established its “Workshop […]

City Life

76 Other Ways Philly Changed the World

Yes, of course you know, we know, everyone knows. Philadelphia gave democracy to this nation — the Declaration, the Constitution, the whole grand, unruly American […]

City Life

The Most Impactful, Influential Philadelphian Who Ever Lived

 Listen to the audio edition here: This is it? On a lovely morning in early spring I’m standing on 3rd Street in Society Hill, staring […]

City Life

Our Petition Worked — Ona Judge Day Is Now Official

UPDATE: City Council has adopted a resolution to make May 21st Philadelphia’s official Ona Judge Day. Thanks to our friends at Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, […]

City Life

Why Philly Needs an Ona Judge Day

Listen to the audio edition here: When, on January 22nd, National Park Service workers unceremoniously crowbarred the slavery-memorial panels off the walls of the President’s […]

City Life

Philadelphia Forgot A. Leon Higginbotham. America Can’t Afford To

The name Aloysius, of Latin origin, means “famous warrior.” And so it was suitable, on December 28, 1998, that a funeral befitting a champion took […]

City Life

How Do We Teach History in America Today?

On a Tuesday in late June, we gathered six distinguished local educators (meet the panel) in our offices in the Curtis building, just off Independence […]

City Life

What a German Taught Me About His Country and the Holocaust

Back when I was in college, a good friend started dating a German guy. He was from a small town in Bavaria and owned lederhosen […]

City Life

Education 2022: See No Evil. Hear No Evil. Teach No Evil?

When I reached out to Philadelphia journalism legend Linn Washington Jr. to ask if he would moderate a discussion about how — in the continuing […]

City Life

The Fight Over How to Teach America’s Past Is Itself a Test

Benjamin Franklin didn’t coin the phrase that nothing can be certain but death and taxes. Other writers said it first. But out of anyone, he, […]

lenape nation
City Life

For Years, People Said There Were No Lenape Left in Pennsylvania. This Group Begs to Differ.

It’s a muggy mid-September Sunday, and kayakers and vacationing families are taking in the calm waters of Mauch Chunk Lake, a small reservoir in the […]