“We Have been Waiting For You.”

Our Ancestors have been waiting for us to reclaim and tell their stories. The Fayette County African American History and Cultural Center endeavors to do just that. What began as a traveling museum in 2019, that offered walking tours and locally based history lectures to Uniontown schools and the East End United Community Center, extended its reach in Generational Archives, the podcast with oral histories, and now has a permanent home at 355 Connellsville Street, Uniontown, PA.

Uniontown was one of the locations of the Underground Railroad in Fayette County and has a deep abolitionist and cultural organizing history in addition to significant stories of African American excellence in business, education, arts, sports, and more. While Uniontown currently has an African American population of 17.5%, the history of that community - present in the area for over 200 years - is often relegated to discussion only during Black History month, if at all. StoryJoy is working to change that with this special project.

The history and cultural center is located specifically on the East End of Uniontown, which is the focus area of much of the African American history in the County.  The project covers the history of slavery in the region, Underground Railroad, African American cemeteries and churches, history of protests, national sports figures that are from the Fayette County area, events such as the Black Homecoming, Black businesses, famous people who originated in Fayette County, including Rev. James Lawson, a mentor for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the documentation of an African American newspaper, African American artists, and authors, etc.  This information was collected by Dr. Norma D. Thomas through newspaper archives, historical documents, donations from African American community members, local library, etc.

See the events page for more upcoming programming or sign up for our newsletter for more information.