We must face, not erase, Black history

In 1788, when western Pennsylvania residents petitioned the General Assembly to create Allegheny County, four of the petitioners were free Black men.

- State Rep. Aerion A. Abney

In the 1800s, Pittsburgh was home to many stops on the Underground Railroad, and the neighborhood now called Lower Hill, then dubbed Arthursville, was a major stop. Railroad agents included barber John B. Vashon, believed to be the city’s wealthiest Black man at the time.

A century later, during the Civil Rights Movement, the corner of Centre Avenue and Crawford in Pittsburgh became known as Freedom Corner; it was the meeting point for protesters who marched on City Hall and Washington.

These are just a few of the many chapters of Black history in Pittsburgh, the city I live in and represent in the state House of Representatives. It’s history we must remember.

Unfortunately, our federal government is doing everything it can today to erase Black history.

In a textbook example of doublespeak, the Trump administration has taken many troubling steps to “restore truth and sanity” to American history. What that really means is they are squelching public spaces that explain our country’s legacy of racism to new generations.