Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored Persons

The Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored Persons

The Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored Persons (HAICP) was founded in 1864 by wealthy blacks and white Quakers, who recognized the problems that slavery and discrimination posed for blacks in old age.  Although the Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored Persons was the institution's official name, it was known over the years by various other names, such as "The Home for Colored People" and "The Colored Folks' Home," as well as "The Old Women's Home," because initially the Home only admitted women.  In 1953, the Home became the Stephen Smith Home for the Aged, named for Stephen Smith, a wealthy black lumber merchant, who contributed a large sum of money and property to this institution. Stephen Smith served as a board member and vice president of the Home from 1864 to 1873.  William Still served as the HAICP's vice president from 1873 to 1887 and president from 1887 to 1901.  His daughter, Dr. Caroline Still Anderson, treated patients at the HAICP.

by Aslaku Berhanu

References

Pollard, Leslie James. Complaint to the Lord: Historical Perspectives on the African American Elderly. Selinsgrove, [Pa.]: Susquehanna University Press, 1996.