Righteous Among the Neighbors: Terri Baltimore
Mt. Lebanon High School students interviewed non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and take action to uproot antisemitism.
Righteous Among the Neighbors is a project of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh that honors non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and stand up against antisemitism. In partnership with the LIGHT Education Initiative and Mt. Lebanon High School, student journalists interview honorees and write profiles about their efforts. To learn more, visit https://hcofpgh.org/righteous-among-the-neighbors.
While giving a tour of the Hill District, Terri Baltimore noticed that a building on Miller Street was marked for demolition. Unfortunately, this building also contained an artifact important to Pittsburgh’s Jewish community: the Labour Lyceum Cornerstone.
Struck by the possible loss, Baltimore jumped into action, sending dozens of emails to the new developer requesting his help in saving the cornerstone. After recognizing the developer she had been emailing in a coffee shop, she sat down with him and explained the situation. Not only did this conversation inspire the owner to save the cornerstone, but he also used the walls of the building to tell the stories of how both Jewish and African American communities used the neighborhood over time.
Through her compassion and tenacity, Baltimore has contributed much to the Hill District and Jewish community of Pittsburgh and therefore was nominated for the Righteous Among the Neighbors award for 2024.
Although she has been an active community organizer for both the Hill House Association and the Macedonia FACE, Baltimore’s most significant contribution to the Jewish community has been through her 30-year commitment to giving tours of the Hill District.
She started leading tours in 1992 after joining one with a group of Carnegie Mellon University students. Despite her positive perspective on the neighborhood itself and the apparent value of the tour, the students began making ugly and disparaging comments about the place. The architecture students were appalled that they were forced to come to the Hill to look at architecture there. After a long conversation with the tour guide and her friend David Lewis, Baltimore was inspired to educate visitors and encourage compassion.
“It’s not just a place with a red circle that you stay away from,” she said. “It is an integral part of the story of Pittsburgh. At the end of each tour I always tell people that they have a responsibility. Once they leave the Hill, their job is to go back to their homes, their schools and their places of business and share with people what they saw. It breaks down barriers around race and differences, and I think that’s why the tours are really important.”
To better understand the community and give more comprehensive tours, Baltimore started to gather information about the area. Not only did she do basic research, but she also talked to the people who lived on the Hill. When speaking to these community members, she discovered a rich Jewish history that she began to incorporate in her historical tours.
Baltimore’s passion and research is apparent when discussing her favorite building in the Hill District — 1908 Wylie Ave.
“It started as a yeshiva and the Hebrew is still above the door with the translation ‘House of the Books,’” she explained. “After that was a community and recreation space, office space, empty at times, and in the ’90s when the crack epidemic hit the neighborhood it became an Afrocentric treatment facility for women and their kids. Later the Hill House Association bought the building and refurbished it, and one of the things we wanted to do was make sure that all of the people who used the building were reflected in the renovations.”
Through her tours she learned the importance of understanding a community — all parts of it. Her passion for the neighborhood, compassion for those who live in it and curiosity for new stories empower Baltimore to inspire and educate others. On her tours she breathes life into a place and the people who live in it.
“I’ve learned that communities are more than just what you see,” she said. “The value of the tours is not only talking about the buildings and what exists now but also giving people a sense that there are lots and spaces where the buildings aren’t there anymore but the stories of the people and how they used those spaces are equally important.”
Most importantly her tours empower the members of the Hill District community to be proud of their history and where they live.
“It’s a place where people are there by choice and not by default,” she said. “It’s a place where the people have longstanding stories and they want their neighbors to cross rivers and bridges and railroad tracks to come to the Hill and find out more about their neighbors.” PJC
Ellie Rost is a senior at Mt. Lebanon High School.
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