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Pearl Theater, Ridge Avenue and north 21st Street, Philadelphia, PA., late 1940s.
Credit: John Mosley Collection, Courtesy Charles L. Blockson Afro American Collection, Temple University.
In the early 1900s, the Pearl Theater, located at Ridge Avenue and north 21st Street, was Philadelphia's "premiere colored theater." Here, black Philadelphians could see the best African-American musical and vaudeville performers from across the country.