Every community needs a warrior

Everyone in the East Poplar community knows and respects Edna Devlin, from the drug dealers to the youth to the senior citizens. A committeeperson in the 14th Ward who chairs the executive committee, she has been educating and standing up for the people of her community for more than 50 years.

Edna was born in Wilmington. Her family moved to Philadelphia in the 1940s, and in the 1950s lived at Seventh and Noble Streets. In 1957, the family moved to the Richard Allen Homes at 12th and Poplar Streets.

“Richard Allen had grass and flowers. It didn’t look like it does now, with all the blacktop and poles. In the ‘60s and ‘50s, we had milk people coming around, fish people, the mail people came. It was family orientated on this side of Broad Street. We all took care of each other as a family does, as well as our children had manners. We had programs at our center for our children, which was on Parrish Street at Richard Allen at the time. Between 10th and 11th. Parrish [Street] was our rent office and our Head Start program, as well as our community center, [which] was very active in that era.”

Devlin’s descriptions of that time paint a picture of supportive Black neighborhoods thriving in spite of oppressive racism.

“I am so pleased that I’m allowed to sit here today and tell you about where I came from as a child in this neighborhood. I have seen so much going on. When we was younger, to go back to that part, at 10th and Spring Garden was a farmer’s market — this was long before the Reading Terminal even came about — in a Black neighborhood. .... And [at] Girard was another farmer’s market at that time that the Blacks had in our community, as well.

“I was unaware that the wall on Ridge Avenue was [a school, now Girard College, when] I was growing up. I always thought it was a graveyard. Never knew it was a school in the heart of North Philadelphia that Black children could not enter in because Girard said — that was in his will — [to] block us out. So what we done was when Martin Luther King came to visit us, we picketed [for] 52 weeks. We walked around that wall. So today … Black kids can attend Girard College.

“[At] that time [Frank} Rizzo was a police commissioner and ... he came up and tried to beat the living hell out of us. Y’all, I’m sorry to say it like that, but this is what we had to fight for in the ‘60s so it would be better like it is today.”

Devlin, who was raised by her grandmother, first became a mother at 17.

“The reason why I’m telling you of my mistake with my daughter is because in my era you had to go back to school. You had to work and you had to take care of your child,” she said. “So you couldn’t come home and leave your kid outside like they do now for the neighborhood to take care of.”

Devlin thinks there is an important lesson in this for young single mothers. “Now, my daughter is a social worker and has four degrees and owns three properties. All of my children graduated from school and two of them went to college and have degrees,” she said. “So it’s not about public housing or subsidized renters. It can be done as a single parent. You have to work harder. But it was well worth it because you had a community behind you with your struggle.”

After working for Aramark Food Service at Temple University — for 80 cents an hour in the 1960s, Devlin began to work for the Census Bureau in her community in the 1970s.

“I was [an] enumerator for them in the seventies and then I got promoted to the supervisor working around in public housing, not just Richard Allen, the whole 11th Street corridor of public housing. No one was interested because no one taught them anything about the census and how important it was for their community and neighbors to get funds put back to keep the community upgraded. So I did put upon myself to learn more and that’s what I’d done. So in doing that I was teaching people that you must get involved with your community.”

In the 1980s, Devlin connected with the late, beloved North Philly community activist Nadira Williams.

“She took me downtown ... where you go in and you can see the planning commissioner office. I never was aware [that you were allowed] to go into these places. Nadira Williams took me down there. I saw the whole printout for what they was going to do to us 30 years ago. So 30 years ago, what we’re going through now in our community, is what been planned for us. And one mayor put us on the outskirts of the town. …”

Together, they worked with community activists Betty White and the late Brother Omjasisa Kentu, chair of the Grassroots Political Network, to found the North Philadelphia Human Services Development Corporation. She also worked closely with State Rep. W. Curtis Thomas and was his point person in the Richard Allen Homes, and even started helping people in the community file for bankruptcy to save their homes from foreclosure.

“I formed a coalition for subsidized housing with the State Rep Curtis Thomas. And we went to Harrisburg numerous times to complain to HUD. ... I feel as though people that lives in subsidized housing is also homeless. If they lose their jobs or become a nuisance or somebody don’t like you, you can get evicted. So what I’d done was in the ‘80s, once I seen drugs was planted in my community, I started doing bankruptcies. So the fathers probably was in jail, the mom was out and I wasn’t gonna allow the children that I watched grow up that had children be put in the street. So I did bankruptcies to save these people.”

Devlin also served as president of the William Penn High School Home & School Council for four years and walked the halls daily. While others were afraid to approach teen dropouts, Devlin walked the streets and convinced them to go back to school and participate in the Penn Connection program at William Penn with the promise of a job after graduation. Eighty of those young people graduated and became employed thanks to the jobs she secured.

“We have to go out and find out how to get across to them that what’s important to them is education. Number one. Then you have to be job ready And it’s not always going to college cause some kids think they get outta school, they have to go to college. ... They have a lot of job training schools that you can become technicians … that you can work on computers to fix now. … You can go to trade schools for that. You can go to trade schools to build buildings.”

Although she’s in her 70s and has had two heart operations, Devlin continues to work on behalf of the people.

“So I wouldn’t care if you fell down 100 times, God brought you up. ... A lot of people say I’m mean, I’m just straightforward. I like what I do. My God is good to me with my heart and what I do for people. And they know me down here.”

Listen to Edna Devlin’s recollections in full below or click here.