My Story, My Block
Artist: Jacqueline Wiggins
Category: Screening Event
Location: The AAUF Conference Center, 2231 N. Broad Street
Date & Time: Friday, July 25th, 2:00-5:00PM
“My Story, My Block” is a series of North Philadelphia “elder” residents being interviewed by block captains, community activists, and youth about life on the block.
Mr. Winfield Thomas (77) Sharswood resident, 47 years; Mr. James Blocker (88), Strawberry Mansion resident, 50 years; Mrs. Barbara Easley-Cox (75+) North Central resident, 40 years; and Mr. Thomas Henderson (79) North Central resident, 47 years. These resident elders have some very special and unique stories to share.
Our interviewers were: Jordan Holbert (Vaux High School, head football coach and community activist); Jayvon Sullivan (TECH Freire Charter School, 2025 graduate); and Gail Loney (Block Captain and community activist).
Cultural Workers
Jacqueline Wiggins
Jacqueline Wiggins is a former long-term resident of North Central Philadelphia and now of Germantown. She is a retired educator who has over 40 years of experience as a classroom teacher of English/language arts and social studies in public, parochial, and charter schools. Also, she is a retired adjunct instructor of English for Community College of Philadelphia. She has been an administrator at two HBCUs-Historically Black Colleges and Universities, namely, Florida A& M University and Bennett College in institutional advancement/resource development/fundraising. At the University of Massachusetts and Mt. Holyoke College, she worked in residential housing and education. Jacqueline has resource development/fundraising experience working with many non-profit organizations. In 2014 and 2018, Jacqueline became an elected committee person for the 32nd Ward-11th Division in North Central Philadelphia. She is active with a group called Stadium Stompers focused on preventing a 35,000 seat football stadium from being built in a residential neighborhood by Temple University. As a docent/tour guide, she gives tours of the Johnson House Historic Site (An Underground Railroad National Historic Landmark). She is the founder of her enrichment program called Underground Railroad Camps for Children, Youth, and Families and her history tourism business, Wiggins Tours N More, LLC.