Erasing Renewal or Renewing Erasure? A History of Pittsburgh's East Liberty Community

Presenter (s)

Aubrey Parke

Abstract or Description

Most accounts of Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood focus on the rise and decline of its commercial center, neglecting the district’s dual identity as a financial hub and a lived-in community. This approach obscures the stories of working class, migrant, and African-American residents who transformed East Liberty from a wealthy commuter suburb in the mid-1800s to “Pittsburgh’s second downtown” in the 1930s. Last semester, I wrote a 30-page research paper on the history of East Liberty for Dr. Andrew Simpson’s Urban America course and then condensed the paper into a 6-minute video. The video asks how East Liberty’s pre-1970s past can inform its current development efforts. I argue that the interplay between top-down investment and the more spontaneous effects of local life, labor, and migration gave birth both to neighborhood’s economic success and its postwar decline. Historical photographs, maps, and charts illustrate East Liberty’s evolution from a semi-rural suburb to a working-class business district and, finally, to a revived but gentrifying neighborhood. The film combats historical erasure by highlighting the stories of migrant and African-American populations and emphasizing the importance of affordable housing if local leaders hope to maintain a diverse neighborhood.

While this 6-minute video format is unusual for the Graduate Research Symposium, I believe it will enrich the event by encouraging other scholars to explore new formats for sharing their work with non-academic audiences. Succinct videos can reach people who may not read a journal article or attend a panel session. For example, I plan to publish my video online, along with a full bibliography. My hope is that it will be useful not only to other scholars, but to activists, developers, and local residents. As a public history student, all my research has this kind of public engagement as its ultimate goal.

Comments

Christine Pollock4 years ago

Aubrey - thank you for this overview of East Liberty. As a long-time East End resident who has watched the drastic changes of the last 25 years, I was unaware of the diversity of the pre-World War II neighborhood. Thank you for bringing that out in your research.

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thank you so much! This is useful and encouragement for me to hear, since sharing the pre-WWII diversity was one of my main goals with this video.

Stephanie Gray4 years ago

Fantastic presentation, Aubrey. The video format is really helpful for understanding East Liberty's change over time in terms of its population and landscape. For us preservationists, your takeaways are important guideposts for future preservation/development.

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thanks so much for taking the time to watch my presentation, Dr. Gray! I appreciate your thoughtful comments.

Jay Dwyer4 years ago

Hi Aubrey, Very nice job! I found your presentation, photos, maps, and material all done very well. I also learned a few things about the neighborhood next to mine and I've seen some of the controversial changes vis-a-vis gentrification first-hand over the last decade. There are still inadequate low-income housing alternatives in East Liberty and that's simply wrong. Thanks for sharing. JD

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thanks for watching, Dr. Dwyer! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Andrew Simpson4 years ago

This was a great presentation! As others have noted, you did a nice job with a variety of media types--especially maps. I also really appreciate your clear takeaways that link the past and the present together into a cohesive set of suggestions for the future.

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thanks so much, Dr. Simpson! The cohesion is definitely thanks to your feedback last semester.

Cassidee Knott4 years ago

Great job on this! I really enjoyed all of the imagery and your use of it. I enjoyed your critiques and accompanying suggestions.

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thanks so much, Cassidee! Glad you enjoyed it.

Samantha Stossel4 years ago

Hi Aubrey, great job with your presentation! I enjoyed the unusual video format very much. Great use of images to illustrate your points.

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Hi Samantha, thank you so much!

Bethany Funk4 years ago

Aubrey, your storytelling abilities are astounding and frame your deep research and nuanced conclusions in an appealing way. I learned a lot from your story about the overlap and distinguishing characteristics between the black and Italian communities as well as the top-down effect on the African American residents. Excellent format and conclusions!

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thank you so much, Bethany, for your careful "reading" of my project!

John Mitcham4 years ago

Really cool project, Aubrey

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thank you, Dr. Mitcham!

Theodore Bergfelt4 years ago

Hi Aubrey, your video is very high quality in its production values and coverage of your topic. You manage to do a lot in a short amount of time. Great job!

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thank you, and thank you so much for helping me find sources!

Taylor Steeves4 years ago

This is so cool! I lived in East liberty during my first year of grad school, so this was really fascinating to me

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

That's really interesting! Thanks for sharing.

Philipp Stelzel4 years ago

Great project and presentation, Aubrey! Let's hope Bill Peduto watches this, too.

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Aubrey Parke4 years ago

Thank you, Dr. Stelzel!