Jarvis Harris and Joe Foss are telling local audiences about their five-week, 4,600-mile tour of Black historical sites across the United States last fall. For additional insights into their journey and anti-racist work, please visit their website, AcceptingOthers.com.
After an emotional visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., we drove to Philadelphia.
Philly is about a three-hour drive from D.C., and is Jarvis’ hometown, so we were both excited to visit there. Again, we made lodging arrangements on the fly and found a great hotel, The Cambria, right in the heart of Philly, about three blocks from city hall. We felt that God was guiding our steps and he surely blessed this lodging location for our Philly visit.
Jarvis: I’ve become very interested in American Black History. I grew up in the inner city of Philadelphia thinking I had a pretty good grasp of my Black history. I even attended Frederick Douglas Elementary School.
So, I thought I had a leg up on his history as well. There were no whites in my neighborhood, but I didn't dwell on that. I received plenty of American history teachings about the great achievements of Ben Franklin, George Washington, Christopher Columbus and many other historically famous folks.
The name of the housing projects I grew up in was Johnson Homes, named for James Weldon Johnson, and Richard Allen housing. What little I knew of these historic African Americans was overshadowed by white history as I grew older.
I knew of slavery and how bad it was. I received lessons on the civil unrest during the era of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. I remember thinking the Black Panther Party was a sort of a criminal and violent group.
I somehow thought Martin Luther King and Malcolm X didn't get along. When I left for the military, I remembered my mom advising me not to talk to the people down South like I talked with people at home in Philly.
At the time, I didn’t know the story of Emmett Till, whose mother had gave him the same warning. I was kind of confused, thinking maybe they wouldn't understand my accent or whether they even spoke English in the South.
Joe: Oops. Since we did much of our planning on the fly, we hadn’t considered what days museums might be open or closed. We arrived in Philly on a Sunday and were leaving on Wednesday, so we were unable to visit the African American Museum in Philadelphia as it is open Thursday through Sunday.
This required us to engage our pivoting process, which ended with us seeing some great sites anyhow, including Reading Terminal, Eastern State Penitentiary and Constitution Center. Plus this gave us more time to spend with Jarvis’s daughter, Juanita, and other relatives and friends.
Jarvis: I really got a kick out of being Joe's private tour guide in Philly. He truly got an immersive Black cultural experience on most of this tour, but this was especially true in Philly as he got to meet and be welcomed by my daughter, Juanita, and some of my childhood friends on Marston Street.
Joe: Meeting some of Jarvis’ old neighbors and friends was a real highlight of the whole trip, as I got to share the joy that Jarvis felt in reconnecting with them. My vocabulary increased by at least two words I had never heard before in Philly.
“Scrapple” is scraps of pork or other meat stewed with cornmeal and shaped into loaves for slicing and frying.
Jarvis is shown enjoying scrapple, which was a new thing to Joe.
Courtesy of Joe & Jarvis
Besides an increased vocabulary, I really enjoyed learning that Jarvis has many friends who still live right in the neighborhood he left 45 years ago. That was interesting in contrast to there being no place in my childhood I could go and find folks I still know, let alone have remained connected with in any way.
Whether this indicates that Black folks have been more stable in their original communities than white folks in general, I am not sure, but I really felt a bit jealous that I don’t have such a community connection from my past.
Jarvis Harris, of Lacey, is a retired U.S. Army veteran and former Pierce County corrections officer who now dedicates his time to personal passions and volunteering. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he settled in Lacey during his Army service.
Joe Foss, of Tacoma, is a Navy veteran and retired business owner who has been actively engaged in projects addressing racism in America since 2012.
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