Good Shepherd Hall on La Salle’s campus. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)
“Think about it, the only place you can put a child with no family is in foster care or in the criminal justice system. There is no other place for them to go,” said Dr. Robbin Alston, psychologist, yoga instructor, and a Magdalen Home alumnus.
Alston was an orphaned 13-year-old girl from Washington, D.C. who sought out the help of the Catholic church while living in an abusive foster home. She had nowhere else to go because of the overcrowding in D.C.’s Catholic foster care system.
In 1969, she eventually left D.C. to live in the Magdalen Home for Colored Girls in Philadelphia. There, she claims the nuns fundamentally changed her life.
“I wanted to be a nun. But they told me to ‘At least go to college, if you still decide to be a nun, you can come back.’ That’s how healing that environment was for me. I wanted to stay,” said Alston.
Because she had no family, at 18, she would find refuge again at La Salle University, where she would major in psychology. She claims she was the only one in her Magdalen Home class to go to college.
When she heard of a possible demolition of the last standing building of the Magdalen quarters, she knew she had to reach out.
“I sent the article to my friends and told them, ‘I used to live here.’ Some things should not be destroyed,” said Alston.
Other local stakeholders share the same sentiment.
The Executive Director of Historic Germantown, Tuomi Forrest, said that the history of the Germantown Magdalen Home remains a topic of debate. He notes that tearing the building down before learning its history may be detrimental.
“It’s clear that the stories of the girls and women that lived there are the critical missing piece,” said Forrest.
When asked about the nuns giving her a sense of dignity, Dr. Alston remembered being gifted the famous book about a man’s survival during the Holocaust after arriving in the home from D.C.
“[The nuns] would give me books to read, and one of the first books I received was Man’s Search for Meaning. A lot of teenagers aren’t reading books by Viktor Frankl,” said Dr. Alston, “I’m not a statistic. I would not be a psychologist or yoga instructor if it had not been for that school.”
Forrest shared a document from the Germantown Historical Society on the limited history of the Magdalen Home. The home was initially located at 35th and Fairmount, but it would move to the Germantown complex in 1897.
By then, the complex had the capacity to house about 200 girls and women. The document claims that women came to the home both voluntarily and that some girls were committed involuntarily by their families.
Women and girls who came to the home could remain there and become a Sister of Magdalen. The Sisters of Magdalen were a non-religious sub-order of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd who held views of sanctity, penance, and labor.
Not to be confused with the Sisters of Magdalene.
When asked whether spaces with potentially damaging history should be preserved, Forrest claimed there wasn’t one correct answer.
He said: “There’s whole international movements around preserving sites of conscience: places that represent genocide, murder, political or social repression, enslavement, etc. But there’s a lot of very concerned and thoughtful work by a lot of people. And I think the interest is, if they are going to preserve [these spaces], how can they be used for healing, reconciliation, remembrance, and teaching.”
Stephanye Watts, Community Engagement Coordinator at Historic Germantown, says Black enslavement is an example of the preservation of an otherwise negative history.
“This reminds me of when the plantation burned down somewhere in the South, and Black people were celebrating. Now we’re inviting people to deny the fact that slavery happened,” said Watts.
“I’m sure there were stories of resilience and self-sufficiency. They could have made amends with the descendants of the enslaved people that lived on that land.”
Evonne Tisdale, East Mt. Airy Neighbors board member, managed to secure a future meeting with the President of La Salle University, Daniel Allen, to discuss the future of the Edgewood House.
Tisdale’s letter to the President pleaded for a meeting before any future plans for the home be initiated.
“We just wanted the University to talk to us before doing anything to the building,” said Tisdale.
When asked about a possible meeting with the President, La Salle reaffirmed their initial comment in an email: “There has been no status change from when I responded to you about four weeks ago. That statement remains accurate.”
Statement from La Salle
“Thank you again for reaching out regarding Good Shepherd Hall. La Salle University values the history and voices of our neighbors and community members. La Salle University has not made a decision regarding the future of Good Shepherd Hall. We look forward to sharing further information, as appropriate, when the future of that building comes into clearer focus.”
Although the majority of the history surrounding the home is unknown, Forrest believes that preserving a building or its history, like this one, should be a community effort.
“It’s everyone’s job. Anyone who is interested in local history, culture, [and] architecture to advocate for preservation and learning about the history of these buildings and a practical sense for a better or worse country.”