Basic Information for National Negro Opera House
The National Negro Opera House was closed in 1962.
Address: 7101 Apple Street, Pittsburgh PA, 15206
About the National Negro Opera House
The National Negro Opera House was once a grand home for artists, musicians, and students in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Although the building was owned by legendary numbers runner Woogie Harris, the building has been abandoned for over 40 years. Because of its vital role in musical history in the black community, the Opera House received the status of a national historical monument in 2007. The Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh is launching efforts to revitalize the Apple Street residence, so soon we will get to finally rediscover the secrets that lie within the floorboards here and remember how the space has effected communities over its lifetime.
What if the National Negro Opera walls could talk?
In his writing, Edward Soja speaks about how spaces can have importance as a result of its “historicality” and what Soja calls thirdspace, which is “combining the real and the imagined, things and thought on equal terms…these lived spaces of representation are thus the terrain for the generation of ‘counterspaces,’ spaces of resistance of the dominant order arising precisely from their subordinate, peripheral or marginalized positioning.” I’ve used this quote as inspiration for my poem “The Walls Tale.” During my research
Music in Black Pittsburgh: Reclaiming a Community
The National Negro Opera House stands as a monument to the role of music in the creation of a unified and strong black culture here in Pittsburgh. The opera company was founded by a woman named Mary Cardwell Dawson and performed all over the country as the most well known black opera company in history.