working class

Wedged between the Delaware River and the El train, Fishtown is a working class neighborhood northeast of Center City in Philadelphia. True to its namesake, the area was known in the 1700s as a prime fishing and shipbuilding site, built by German and Irish immigrants. Massive industrialization later transformed the neighborhood into the "workshop of the world," but the neighborhood grew poorer as the factories left after the second World War. By the 1970s, many residents were leaving for the suburbs.

The 2004 Documentary History Project for Youth students worked diligently to span three centuries of history exploring the evolution of public education in Philadelphia. From early private Quaker establishments to the birth of the common school system a century later, right up to today's charter schools and the present-day schools contracted to the often controversial Edison Schools Inc., Philadelphia's eyebrow-raising educational periods are presented with humor and insight, all under the umbrella of the video's time traveling protagonist.