During the Great Depression, the housing in Philadelphia for low income people, especially African Americans, was in very poor shape, and in many cases unsafe to live in.

[3] This crisis finally came to a head in December 1936 when two slum houses collapsed near 15th and Lombard, killing 6 people and injuring 20.

[10] The mayor selected the five people to act as the first board of PHA: William Harry Barnes, James McDevitt, John McShain, Roland Randall, and Judge Frank Smith as chairman.

[12] By July 1938, the authority had secured the Federal funding of $16.8 million for its first three projects at Glenwood and Ridge, 30th and Tasker, and 9th and Fairmount, with the goal of rent no more than $4.50 per month.

[13] Construction of the first project officially began on May 15, 1939 at 25th and Glenwood, with the announcement that it would be named in honor of James Weldon Johnson, an African American writer and civil rights activist.