Randall Miller shows how African-Americans coped with the harsh realities of antebellum Philadelphia by creating their own society within and apart from white Philadelphia. This society created away from white Philadelphia, gave African-Americans a sense of community that they would not have had otherwise.

Dr. Miller, professor of history at St. Joseph's University, earned his Ph.D. in History from Ohio State University. Through his career, he has published more than 20 books commenting on topics such as urban affairs, politics, and slavery and race. His interests include National and Regional Politics and Government, Civil War and Reconstruction, and Power and Class in America. He co-edited Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth, and he is the former editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.