Racial Justice and the Campaign

few miles northwest of Philadelphia lies what was once the little crossroads village of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, named for the local Quaker meeting of the same name — and now a flourishing suburban community. There, at the corner of Germantown and Butler Pikes, stands a cluster of buildings belonging to the Corson family, whose members played a heroic role in the fight against American slavery. These structures are among the few remaining, authentic sites that testify to the dedication and courage of men and women who risked their lives, their liberty, and their livelihoods to rid this nation of the scourge of slavery. The same set of buildings later served as the home and studio of artist Thomas Hovenden, the most famous genre painter in the United States at the time of his death, whose best known work is the Last Moments of John Brown, now in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

gives critical context to the property and that will make it difficult to access this historic site whose future use is yet unclear. An option to buy the property was triggered by the death in 2012 of Nancy Corson, whose heirs have decided to sell it.