About

Established October 13, 2012

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Dr. Edna B. McKenzie Pittsburgh Branch of ASALH, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, established in 1915 by Carter G. Woodson. We are a nonprofit organization that labors in the service of Blacks and all humanity.

The inauguration of our branch took place on October 13, 2012 and was named in honor of Dr. Edna B. McKenzie, a pioneering journalist well known for her work with the Pittsburgh Courier, and an African American History scholar and educator whose work on African Americans in Western Pennsylvania was unparalleled. 

Our charter members were Alan James, Ann F. Mason, and Major Mason III, Bernard Mack, Betty J. Tillman, Cheryl and Dewayne Ketchum, Martha Conley, George Moses, Helena Hughes, James Stewart, Joe. W. Trotter, John L. Ford, June Pickett Dowdy, Margaret Self, Mildred Mickle, Marlene Bransom, Priscilla Collins, Ronald B. Saunders, Samuel Black, Shirley Scott, and Valerie Lawrence.

We have been blessed and privileged to host several programs that fulfill the mission of ASALH “to promote, research, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information about Black Life, History, and Culture.”

We have partnered with the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Community Engagement, Hill District Office to distribute educational materials to students in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District. The Hill District is home of African-American greats such as Lena Horne and August Wilson In addition, our Branch has partnered with B-PEP, the Western Pennsylvania Black Political Assembly, and the Urban League of Pittsburgh in two car caravans to highlight the Mail-In Ballot in Pittsburgh and the Eastern suburbs.