Antebellum Philadelphia was home to the largest free black community in Philadelphia. These lessons explore the ways in which the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS) worked with and for that community, providing education and employment assistance in the years following abolition in Pennsylvania and before the Civil War. The PAS also took an important role in documenting this community through censuses and home visits throughout the antebellum period. Although originally aimed at assessing the needs of this community, today these documents also offer a wonderful window into various structures of the community itself. The free black community in Philadelphia was one of the largest groups of African Americans living in an urban area in the 18th and 19th centuries. This lesson is designed to help students appreciate the breath and diversity of the African American experience in 19th century Philadelphia.