The History of the Hill District

by Rachel Ropella

The Hill District, a historically Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, serves as the backdrop of August Wilson’s memoir play, How I Learned What I Learned , and is also where most of the plays in his American Century Cycle take place. Below is an overview of the rich and storied history of the 1.8-square-mile neighborhood from the 1900s to now.

and opportunities in a South still regulated by sharecropping and Jim Crow laws, moving meant the hope of a new life in the North. In Pittsburgh, there was high demand for steel mill workers as men went off to fight in World War I, meaning many first-generation and recently-freed African Americans found jobs and settled in the Hill District after migrating. Wilson’s plays Gem of the Ocean and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone both explore the impact of the Great Migration and the inequities faced by mill workers.

1930s to 1950s:

Pre-1900s to 1920s :

The early residents of the Hill District were middle-class and built their own businesses, such as Walker College of Beauty Culturists, which was opened by Madame C. J. Walker in 1909. 1910 was a pivotal moment for the district, as it marked the start of the movement called the Great Migration. Between 1910 and 1970, over six million African Americans left the rural South and moved to the then-largest cities in the United States. Because of the lack of political power

According to Wylie Avenue Days, a documentary focused on the Great Migration in Pittsburgh, "from the 1930s to the 1950s, the Hill District emerged as one of the most prosperous and influential Black communities in America.” The Hill District had flourished into a vibrant community with churches, business, and Greenlee Field, the nation's only Black-owned baseball stadium where the Negro League baseball teams played (a key part of Wilson’s play Fences ). However, the biggest staple of the community at this time became its legendary music clubs, earning the neighborhood the nickname “Little Harlem.” The Hill District gained national attention as iconic jazz musicians such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie played there on the burgeoning jazz circuit. Wilson’s play Seven Guitars highlights the Hill District’s growing music scene and the complexities of White producers trying to profit off of emerging Black artists.

1960s to 1980s:

In the early ’60s, much of the housing in the Hill was slated for redevelopment, but this urban renewal process was poorly planned by developers who didn’t see the true value of the neighborhood, deeply disrupting the lives of the locals. Over 8,000 residents and 400 local businesses were displaced

The World of hoW I learned WhaT I learned from the Lower Hill area, and their access to the downtown economy was cut off in the coming decades. During this time of upheaval, residents became innovative and found ways to provide services that were being neglected by the local government. Ambulances would refuse to come to their community, so they created the Freedom House Ambulance Service. This ambulance service was the first community-based EMS with trained medics that served the Hill District from 1967 through 1975, with most of its operators being locals. Wilson’s plays Two Trains Running and Jitney explore how the push for gentrification devastated the neighborhood and how locals worked to provide services to each other.

The complexities and tensions of gentrification in the Hill District feature prominently in Radio Golf, Wilson’s final play of The American Century Cycle , which takes place in the 1990s. Today, the play's message still rings true. Public Sources, a Pittsburgh nonprofit media company, reported in 2017 that “in 1960, there were roughly 31,000 people living in the Hill District, even after the Lower Hill homes were demolished. Today, there are roughly 12,000.” However, through a strong base of activism, longtime community members have been cautious and have worked to protect the area from private developers. Many fear that the history of the neighborhood where they grew up will be completely erased, but they are taking the steps to ensure that the legacy of this community lives on. For example, in 2020, Freedom House 2.0 was created, funded by a $235,000 grant from Pittsburgh's Partner4Work, letting a new generation access the training to become emergency medical technicians. Some of these new technicians are doing the same training with Freedom House that their families did as original members decades earlier. Marimba Milliones, long-time resident and activist for the revitalization of the Hill District community, writes how full-circle moments like this showcase “the Hill District's unique brand of reimagining and remaking itself— for itself. The Hill District's history is its best guide to its future, and the future is now.”

1990s to Today:

By 1990, 71% of the community’s original residents and a majority of its businesses were gone. Since then, there has been pressure on the Hill District to be completely renovated and become a more gentrified, connected part of the city of Pittsburgh, with private developers pushing for high rises and chain stores.