John C. Asbury: The Republican Who Wrote Pennsylvania's Civil Rights Law

John C. Asbury lived in this Philadelphia neighborhood and spent his life building institutions for the Black community that surrounded him. Born in eighteen sixty-two, he rose to become one of the most prominent African American Republicans in the state, serving in the Pennsylvania legislature and using that platform to push for civil rights.

In the legislature, Asbury sponsored civil rights bills for Pennsylvania. He was also a philanthropist who helped found Eden Cemetery, one of the few burial grounds open to Black Philadelphians at the time, and supported Mercy Hospital, which served Black patients turned away elsewhere. He edited the Odd Fellows Journal and remained active until his death in nineteen forty-one. His home stood here.