
‘The Wheatley’ reinvents itself as needs evolve
The Phyllis Wheatley Community Center (PWCC), also affectionately known as “The Wheatley,” is widely known and respected as a source of strength and pride for children, youth, families and elders in North Minneapolis.
The center’s namesake is a slave who won her freedom and emerged as the first African American to publish a book of poetry. In the past, PWCC was once a settlement house where famous Black artists and musicians found shelter after discrimination kept them from local hotel establishments. Marian Anderson, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ethel Waters, and Paul Robeson among others stayed at the settlement house from the time it first opened its doors back in 1924.
In the present, it still serves as a gathering place, particularly for those interested in educational and social supportive services. Everyone is welcome at the Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, where a spirit of diversity prevails.
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