Looking back at a year of A More Perfect Union | Video

It’s been a year since The Inquirer’s A More Perfect Union series began exploring some of Philadelphia’s biggest institutions and their unjust legacies.

The series, a yearlong effort examining the Philadelphia roots and present-day realities of systemic racism in America, started with a deep look at The Inquirer by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery. The installment, “Black City. White Paper,” dove into the institution’s role in “perpetuating inequality for generations.”

And while A More Perfect Union launched with a look inside Philadelphia’s paper of record, it didn’t stop there. Through 20 investigated pieces, essays, videos, illustrations, mixed media, and more, the project told stories that included the divisive legacy of iconic symbols like the Liberty Bell, the University of Pennsylvania’s misleading claims about its past, and A.M.E. Church leaders’ continuous fight for freedom.

The above video recaps the year-long project’s impact, as told by Contributing Editor Errin Haines, MPU staff writers Layla Jones and Zoe Greenberg, and the project’s creative director and developer, Dain Saint.

“We’re really still only at the beginning of this work,” Haines said in the video. “We’re certainly still at the beginning of the reckoning that started in 2020, and it is up to all of us to bring about the ‘more perfect union’ that our founders envisioned.”

A More Perfect Union’s main installments are linked below. More can be found on A More Perfect Union’s landing page.