[1] Frank Bolden was born in Washington, Pennsylvania on December 24, 1912, the son of the city's first African American mail carrier.
[1] After graduating from Washington High School, Bolden attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the first African American member of the marching band.
[2] In those years, much of his work focused on Wylie Avenue, which was the center of African American social life and culture in Pittsburgh at this time.
[3] Bolden also wrote of the grittier side of Hill District life, saying “Wylie Avenue: the only street in America that begins with a church and ends with a jail," and referring to prostitutes as “sisterhood of the nocturnal order.”[1] After World War II, Bolden refused job offers from Life Magazine and The New York Times, instead returning to work for the Pittsburgh Courier, which was the leading African American paper at that time.
[2] He travelled in Europe and Asia, covering the heroism and victories of African American troops, including the 92nd Infantry Division and soldiers working on the Burma Road.
The collection dating from 1930 to 1967 contains documents his career as journalist, reporter and city editor of the Pittsburgh Courier and his war correspondence.