America’s best weekly
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., hosts Scholarship Gala SEE PAGE A3
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 117 No. 18 Two Sections
MAY 6-12, 2026
thenewpittsburghcourier Published Weekly $1.00
Carnegie Library of Homewood celebrates 116 years of existence $12.5 million renovation plan announced; community can participate by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
The New Pittsburgh Courier is 116 years old. Few things are that old that still serve a primarily African American audience in Pittsburgh. But on Friday, May 1, hundreds of people turned out to celebrate another African American treasure that's also 116 years old. The Carnegie Library of Homewood held a party of its own. There was plenty of food and beverages, fellowship and live music from the Gordon Gary Quintet. The mostly-Black audience saluted the library that was called, "The cornerstone of our neighborhood," by Alva Blair, president of the Friends of Homewood Library, the organization that hosted the event. Joyce Broadus, a Black woman who served as branch manager of the Homewood Library from 1988 to 2004, called the
library "the 'Kaufmann's Clock of Homewood,' because they know where you are, at the corner of Hamilton and Lang." She added: "It's just home. They got it right. Andrew Carnegie got it right." Among other notables who attended the twohour celebration were former Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gainey and former Pittsburgh First Lady Michelle Gainey, current Pittsburgh City Councilman Khari Mosley, and current Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato. The Carnegie Library of Homewood opened on March 14, 1910, which, if you're wondering, was two months after the Pittsburgh Courier began printing in January 1910. Back in 1902, the Homewood Board of Trade formed a Library Committee, which met with and convinced Carnegie, the steel titan and philanthropist, to provide the fund-
ing for a library in Homewood. He initially gave $60,000 to the project, but the Homewood Board of Trade Library Committee said they wanted more. Carnegie ended up giving $150,000, which equals about $5.2 million in today's money. The Carnegie Library of Homewood was the last of the original Carnegie Library branches to be built in Pittsburgh. It was completed in 1910 to English Gothic designs by the architectural firm Alden & Harlow. It has undergone two renovations, in 1970 and 2003. It was designated as a historic Pittsburgh landmark in 2004. "This is the heart of the community," Broadus told the Courier at the May 1 celebration. "This library has always been on this corner. When everything else was changing, this library was still SEE LIBRARY A5
JOYCE BROADUS, the former Carnegie Library of Homewood branch manager from 1988 to 2004, likened the library on Hamilton and N. Lang avenues to the iconic Kaufmann's Clock in Downtown Pittsburgh. "It's just home," she said. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
Margaret Hicks Burley, longtime educator, dies at 84 Margaret Hicks Burley, a longtime educator who spent 33 years as a teacher for the Pittsburgh Public Schools district, has died, the New Pittsburgh Courier has learned. She passed away on April 18, 2026. She was 84.
In an obituary provided by the Burley family to the Courier, Burley was born and raised in Penn Hills. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. At Miller
MARGARET HICKS BURLEY
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
To subscribe, call 412-481-8302 ext. 136
Elementary School in the Hill District, Burley served as the Instructional Teacher Leader and founded/coordinated The Miller School-Mercy Hospital Mentoring & Career Awareness Program, in collaboration with The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Also, her obituary stated, she "established a scholarship in her name to benefit students that graduated from Miller Elementary School bound for college." Burley's obituary also read that she "was a favorite teacher to generations of students in the Hill District. She kept their drawings and memories of classroom presentations filed away for 30 years. Her students learned poems to motivate and inspire them to greatness. Her motto in class and in life was, "Success comes to those who never stop striving." In 1997, Burley was awarded the KDKA-TV “Thanks To Teachers Award—The Power of Partnerships.” She was honored for enhancing the educational experiences of her students through an innovative teaching partnership, using the community as a resource, her obituary read. She earned The Teacher Excellence Foundation Silver Award in 2001, and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Service Award in Education in 2003.
Margaret Hicks Burley was born on Nov. 5, 1941, to Ida Mae Jones Hicks and Ervin Hicks. Ida Mae Jones Hicks was an educator at Baxter and Belmar elementary schools
in Pittsburgh, and Ervin Hicks was the owner of Hicks Barbershop on Frankstown Road. Margaret Hicks Burley was a Platinum member of The Pittsburgh Chapter of
The Links Inc., The Northeasterners, with whom she served as a past president, and the Circle-lets. She was a proud member of SEE BURLEY A5
GAINEY'S DRAFT CONTRIBUTIONS APPRECIATED
FORMER PITTSBURGH MAYOR ED GAINEY, who was mayor of the city when Pittsburgh was awarded the 2026 NFL Draft two years prior, played a major role in the city’s NFL Draft preparation, as he served in office until Jan. 4, 2026. He’s seen here with Pittsburghers at the “Taste of the Historic Hill District” event during the Draft weekend. (Photo by J.L. Martello)