Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. Legendary trumpeter Lee Morgan grew up on Madison Street in the Nicetown/Tioga neighborhood in North Philly. Lee’s block is a 20-minute walk from the intersection of Broad, Germantown and Erie (BGE).
In conjunction with traffic safety and beautification improvements to the iconic intersection, the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (OACCE) issued a Call for Artists to compete for a site-specific public artwork. During an information meeting, Rachel Schwartzman, Percent for Art Rebuild Project Manager, shared the goals of the BGE Public Art Project.
Sundays were for teenagers. The record hops were promoted as “wholesome affairs that will help keep youngsters off the streets and out of trouble.”
The Arcade Ballroom was located in a two-story building constructed in 1920. There were retail stores on the ground floor and a dance hall on the second floor. The building is still there.
The finalists competing for the Percent For Art commission have been selected. OACCE invites the public to meet the artists and share their ideas for the BGE project. I plan to attend the community meeting to share this neighborhood history with the artists.
To reserve a spot for the community meeting, go here.
Black sacred places matter. From Bishop Richard Allen preaching at Mother Bethel, Denmark Vesey planning a slave rebellion at Mother Emanuel, and Minister Malcolm X teaching at Muhammad’s Temple of Islam No. 12, Black sacred places have been the heart and soul of the African American community.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., an advisor to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, observed: “No pillar of the African American community has been more central to its history, identity, and social justice vision than the ‘Black Church.’”
Preserving Black Churches is a project of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund which is led by National Trust for Historic Preservation Senior Vice President Brent Leggs. In an interview with Robin Givhan of the Washington Post, Leggs said:
It’s critically important that we preserve the physical evidence of our past, that we preserve the historic buildings that are imbued with legacy and memory, that we preserve the profound stories that are embodied in the walls, landscapes, and cemeteries stewarded by African American churches.
Rooted in the Black experience, jazz both has been a sanctuary and found sanctuary in the church. Now a jazz standard, Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” is a celebration of the African American religious tradition.
The Ku Klux Klan’s bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church which killed four Black children moved John Coltrane, the grandson of a prominent African Methodist Episcopal minister, to compose “Alabama.”
Partners for Sacred Places and the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia recently launched the Philadelphia Fund for Black Sacred Places (PFBSP). The three-year project will expand public access to purpose-built religious properties of architectural, historical or cultural significance, regardless of denomination, that are operated and owned by an active community of faith. PFBSP will provide planning and programming grants, as well as capital grants to support Black congregations’ efforts to maintain their properties.
The public’s response to the murder of George Floyd in June 2020 gave focus to the unanswered needs of our city’s Black communities. Religious properties have space that can be developed to respond to these needs in creative and innovative ways after worship. The houses of worship that are selected to participate in this grant program will provide welcoming and affirming space to the public that will benefit all of our communities.
PFBSP will provide up to $10,000 in planning grants and up to $250,000 in 1:2 matching grants ($2 granted for each $1 raised) for the planning and execution of projects that expand equitable access to Black-led historic sacred places. Eligibility guidelines are available here. The application deadline is January 31, 2024.
Register here for the November 17 info session on completing the application. If you have any questions, contact PFBSP Director Betsy Ivey by email or by phone at (215) 567-3234 x29.
In the coming months, you will be told the 2024 Election is the most consequential election since, well, the last presidential election. The hype notwithstanding, the right to vote is the right that secures all other rights. If voting didn’t matter, conservatives would not try to block access to the ballot box.
National Voter Registration Day, the country’s largest single-day voter registration drive, is September 19, 2023. Since 2012, more than five million Americans have been registered to vote on this civic holiday.
Your vote matters. You can register to vote here. If you are already registered, check your status to make sure you are #VoteReady. And on Election Day, be careful how you vote.
Thousands gathered in the nation’s capitol to mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organizers said the march was “not a commemoration, but a continuation” of the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The march was convened by Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network and Martin Luther King III, board chairman of the Drum Major Institute. Co-Chairs include the NAACP, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the National Urban League.
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has on display the original three-page “I Have a Dream” speech that Dr. King delivered on August 28, 1963. NMAAHC Director Kevin Young said:
The words of all its speakers resonate six decades later, and we serve as witnesses to the bravery and dedication of its organizers. To be able to show visitors the copy of the “I Have a Dream” speech King read and improvised from while at the podium is an honor and privilege.
Dr. King’s speech will be on display until September 18, 2023 in NMAAHC’s Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876–1968 Gallery.
The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) has unveiled the proposed designs for the statue honoring Harriet Tubman. As I told the Philadelphia Inquirer, it was a needlessly bumpy process to get to this point, but I think Philadelphia can be proud of the visions presented by the five semi-finalists, Vinnie Bagwell, Richard Blake, Tanda Francis, Alvin Pettit and Basil Watson. Their designs reflect the lived experience of being Black in America and the continuing struggle for racial justice.
More than 100 people attended the virtual public design presentation but it’s not too late to have your voice heard. The public is invited to view, rank and comment on the proposed designs. OACCE will share the comments and rankings with the artists who will have an opportunity to revise their design prior to final review by the Advisory Committee.
I won’t rank the designs but I want to comment on the design that captured my imagination, Tanda Francis’ “Together in Freedom.” I was struck by the monumental scale of Harriet Tubman’s face and the potential of the polished panels.
Harriet did not arrive in Philadelphia fully formed. The panels of “Together in Freedom” could breathe life into the places and people who together helped transform Harriet from a thankful self-emancipated woman to the “Moses of Her People.”
Harriet’s Philadelphia story could be told by incorporating historic documents such as William Still’s journal which includes an entry about Harriet’s family, showing places where she lived and worked, and highlighting financiers and agents of the Underground Railroad, including Robert Purvis, Sarah Buchanan and Henrietta Duterte.
The Public Input Survey is open until September 1, 2023 at 11:59pm EST. Click here to view the designs and take the survey.
In 2022, Congress passed the ‘‘Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act’’ which required the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue commemorative coins in recognition of the 200th anniversary of Harriet Tubman’s birth. Earlier this month, the United States Mint joined representatives from the Harriet Tubman Home and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to unveil the designs for the 2024 Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Commemorative Coins.
The designs will be featured on a $5 gold coin, a $1 silver coin and a half-dollar coin. All sales will include a surcharge of $35, $10 and $5, respectively. The surcharges will be paid equally to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the Harriet Tubman Home “for the purpose of accomplishing and advancing their missions.”
Woodrow Keown Jr., president & COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, said:
Harriet Tubman is one of the most revered figures in American history and now she is being rightly enshrined among our nation’s pantheon of heroes. She will soon be indelibly etched into our collective heritage as a triumphant, resilient champion of freedom that reflects the true diversity of those who have contributed so significantly to our nation’s democracy.
In the birthplace of our nation’s democracy, the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy will hold a Public Design Presentation Meeting for Philadelphia’s permanent Harriet Tubman statue. The public is invited to join the virtual meeting during which the five semi-finalist artists will “present their design images, renderings, and/or models and hear them describe their vision for the Harriet Tubman statue.”
Harriet Tubman will be the first statue of a Black female historical figure in the City’s vast public art collection. RSVP here for the Zoom meeting on Thursday, August 3 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
