community and university honors social justice seminar spring 2013 august wilsons hill district tour
TRANSCRIPT
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Community and UniversityHonors Social Justice SeminarSpring 2013
AUGUST WILSON’S HILL DISTRICT TOUR
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1712 Bedford Avenue – Site of Fences
•Thought to be the site of Fences (set in 1950s)•Former home of famous boxer Charlie Burley•Wilson’s grandmother’s house
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1727 Bedford Avenue –Wilson Childhood Home
• Frederick August Kittel, Jr., one of seven children, lived in the rear of this building• Front half of the building was a storefront• Setting of the play Seven Guitars, set in 1948•Daisy Wilson Artist Community to refurbish the home
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Miller African Centered Academy
•Once the McKelvy School• Pernell’s school in King Hedley II• Former home of the Pittsburgh Crawfords• Just over 300 students• 97% African American• 96% eligible for free or reduced-price lunches
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2215 Wylie Avenue – West Funeral Home
• West Funeral Home has been operating for almost a century• Mentioned both in The Piano
Lesson and Two Trains Running• Thomas West, Sr., is an
important character in Two Trains Running• One of the oldest
continuously running businesses in the Hill District
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2172 Wylie Avenue – Eddie’s Restaurant
• August Wilson worked at Eddie’s• Unofficial center of Hill
District’s literary and dramatic community• Inspiration for Memphis Lee’s
restaurant in Two Trains Running• Many patrons operated on a
tab system• Torn down in November 2007
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2141 Wylie Avenue – Crawford Grill
• Night spot, restaurant, jazz club, and hangout• Owned and operated by Gus
Greenlee, the “Numbers King” of the Hill District• Mentioned in Fences and
King Hedley II• Closed in 2002
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2046 Wylie Avenue – Site of Jitney
• One of many jitney stations that operated in the Hill• Still an important mode of
transportation in today’s Hill District• “A perfect place for a play” –
August Wilson
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1839 Wylie Avenue – Aunt Ester’s House
• Aunt Ester is a 285-year-old woman central to many plays of the Pittsburgh Cycle, including Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf• Came to America with
earliest slaves• Aunt Ester = “ancestor”
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1835 Centre Avenue – Hill House Association
• Traces its heritage to the Anna B. Heldman and Soho settlement houses, which helped immigrants and black migrants settle in the Hill District (people like August Wilson’s family)• Association created in 1964 as a
product of the Civil Rights Movement• “Empowering individuals to
change, become models for their family, and gradually reweave the community’s social fabric”• Headquarters completed in 1972
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2007 Centre Avenue – New Granada Theater
• Built in 1928, designed by Louis Bellinger• Remodeled in 1937 as movie
theater and jazz club• Duke Ellington, Ella
Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Cab Calloway performed there
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2145 Centre Avenue – Lutz’s Meat Market
• Mr. Lutz plays a central and symbolic role in Two Trains Running• Polish, white man, a reminder that the Hill District was once a very diverse neighborhood• Sold the business after 1968 riots
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2250 Centre Avenue – Weil School
• Black Horizon Theater (1968)• August Wilson directed his first plays at this building• School still in use today
Photo by “Teenie” Harris