Editor’s Note: Last May, the Inquirer wrote about tensions between longtime neighborhood residents living west of Broad Street adjacent to Temple University and developers renovating row houses and building new units for the school’s burgeoning student population.
The comments on the articles haven’t been preserved for posterity in the paper’s online archives (which is generally a good thing), but we recall that some people said the area was a bad neighborhood now on its way to becoming a good one thanks to the influx of new development and population. Students were breathing new life into a place that was essentially dead. “They”–always “they”–have no right to squawk since they were the ones who allowed it become dilapidated, so said some comments.
Few habits of thought are more pernicious to city life than dividing neighborhoods into “good” ones and “bad.” Such thinking provided the license for the wholesale clearance of what were called “slum” areas in the 1960s, and it still serves as a ready justification for gentrification, slap-dash development and writing off vast swatches of the city. The neighborhood around Temple was and is impoverished, and suffers from a high level of violent crime (there were 75 murders between 2000 and 2011 in the area bounded by Broad and 21st Streets, and York and Dauphin Streets). It still isn’t what we could call a vibrant neighborhood–there aren’t enough shops or restaurants, and the streets don’t have the necessary bustling quality. But it is a community nonetheless, one that is more close-knit than many in the city.
Jessie Fox set out with her camera to capture the life of this neighborhood and came back with this photo essay. Her photographs remind us that people living in poorer areas don’t call their neighborhood “bad”; they just call it “home.”
Master Barber James Johnson. Tommy’s Barber Shop, 15th St. and Susquehanna Ave. | Photo: Jessie Fox
Mr. Tom, owner of Tommy’s Barbershop | Photo: Jessie Fox
Tommy’s Barber Shop, 15th and Susquehanna Avenue | Photo: Jessie Fox
After school, Tree House Books, 16th St. and Susquehanna Ave. | Photo: Jessie Fox
Raziq, 17th and Susquehanna Avenue | Photo: Jessie Fox
After school at Treehouse Books | Photo: Jessie Fox
North Broad Street | Photo: Jessie Fox
At the basketball courts after school. Penrose Park | Photo: Jessie Fox
James Johnson is a community activist as well as a barber. North Broad Street | Photo: Jessie Fox
Mustafa and Wayne, Tommy’s Barbershop | Photo: Jessie Fox
North Broad St. | Photo: Jessie Fox
North Broad St. | Photo: Jessie Fox
16th St. and Susquehanna Ave. | Photo: Jessie Fox
16th Street | Photo: Jessie Fox
Broad St. and Cecil B Moore Ave. | Photo: Jessie Fox
Awesome, awesome album! Its strange how many forget that people do indeed call these places home.
Jessie makes photographs that are more than pictures, they are portraits of trust and respect
Jessie manages to capture something beyond a human figure with her photgraphy. Looking at the subjects in her photos I feel as if I am speaking to the person and their personality has been imbued on the film.
this is an outstandingly piece! the comments under so many inquirer stories and naked philly blog posts are disheartening beyond words. everyone needs to be reminded that “good” and “bad” are gross oversimplifications and also that gentrification is about much more than rising property taxes; it fractures entire communities’ connection to place and identity
Great pictures and great intro. Don’t let few hundred violent incidents overshadow the million points of humanity that exists underneath.