Anderson@Large

Cultural Week of Action on Race and Democracy

The first annual Cultural Week of Action on Race and Democracy will be held September 27 through October 5, 2024. Organized by Race Forward and Americans for the Arts, the initiative will harness the transformative power of arts and culture to spark dialogue, inspire action, and build community.

All That Philly Jazz’s West Philly’s Main Street: A Walk Through Time is one of the inaugural projects.

The walking tour will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024, from 10am to 12pm. We will stroll the historic 52nd Street corridor and uncover lost and hidden history. For event details and tickets, please go here.

The walking tour culminates at the former site of the Red Rooster, the jazz club where John Coltrane first met McCoy Tyner. Today, the building is home to Steve’s Sports Lounge but the history lives on.

Immediately after the Red Rooster stop, we will gather at the Painted Bride Art Center for a community conversation, Telling Our Stories from “Back in the Day”: A Voices of 52nd Street Memory Salon.

The afternoon will be filled with joy, remembering, and light refreshments. The Memory Salon is free and open to the public. Space is limited so be sure to reserve your spot.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Sixty-one years ago on August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Jazz musicians were the vanguard of the movement for freedom and civil rights, a fact acknowledged by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival.

Long before Beyoncé was born, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded “The Freedom Suite” which featured Oscar Pettiford on bass and Max Roach on drums.

Thousands of people from across the country arrived in Washington, DC on the “Freedom Train,” a special fleet of trains chartered by A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

From Louis Armstrong’s “Black and Blue” to Charles Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus,” jazz musicians talked the talk and walked the walk. Trumpeter Lee Morgan and Max Roach were among the musicians on board the Freedom Train from New York City to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Lee Morgan Proposed for Google Doodle

Edward “Lee” Morgan was born in Philadelphia on July 10, 1938. Since his last heavenly birthday, Lee has been honored with a Pennsylvania historical marker.

At the dedication ceremony, he received commendations from Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Bob Casey, Representatives Dwight Evans and Brendan Boyle, state Senator Vincent Hughes, City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

Lee’s masterpiece, “The Sidewinder,” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry on April 16, 2024.



To celebrate Lee’s 86th birthday, I proposed the legendary trumpeter for a Google Doodle. If Google accepts my proposal, Lee will join his former bandleader, Dizzy Gillespie, who was honored with a Google Doodle on October 21, 2010.

Happy birthday, Lee.

A Tale of Two Headlines

Two days after Lee Morgan’s historical marker was unveiled, The Philadelphia Inquirer published this demeaning and defamatory headline.

Writing for The Inquirer, Shaun Brady dug up fake news that Lee Morgan’s gravesite had “vanished” and a white fan “unearthed” it. Even if the claim were true, why did Brady and his editor, Bedatri Choudhury, devote coverage of the dedication ceremony to “news” first reported by NPR in 2022?

Shaun did not interview Lee’s family members. In an email, Choudhury wrote, “In retrospect, he should’ve spoken to Mr. Morgan’s family.”

Lee is buried alongside his father, Otto Morgan. There was a callous disregard for the emotional distress and harm the false claim would inflict on Lee’s family.

After I complained that Brady’s “different angle” portrayed the family in a false light, the headline was changed.

An Update was added at the end of the article: “This story has been updated to clarify that the grave of Lee Morgan was never lost, but simply covered over.”

The Update begs the question: If Lee’s gravesite was never lost, what was the point of Brady’s story? Nine of the 17 paragraphs are about the “discovery” and the “discoverer.” Lee Morgan played second fiddle to a random white man.

The headline was changed but the damage had already been done. The body of the story will live forever on the Internet.

While the family explores their options, I want The Inquirer’s journalistic negligence to become a case study about the importance of fact-checking and editing.

Lee Morgan, Black Excellence and Sensational Journalism

An African proverb says, “Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero.” On International Jazz Day, we told the story of Lee Morgan, a story of Black Excellence.

Even when we tell our story, a white journalist lionizes a white man in his report on the dedication of Edward Lee Morgan’s historical marker.

Writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Shaun Brady dug up the sensationalistic claim that a white fan “discovered” Lee Morgan’s “lost gravesite.” The “discovery” was made after the fan wandered around White Chapel Memorial Park during the coronavirus pandemic. When he finally asked for help, the groundskeeper took him to the location. The grave marker was obscured by overgrown grass and vegetation at a time when there was a worker shortage across the board.

The “discovery” was so sensational that nine of the 17 paragraphs in Brady’s story are about a mediocre white man. That is more than the combined number of paragraphs about the legendary Black trumpeter, the Black family who loves him, the Black musicians who knew him, the Black property owners who preserved the memory of the Aqua Lounge, and the Black woman who nominated Lee Morgan for a historical marker and listing on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

It was lost on Brady that he should have fact-checked the claim. I brought his journalistic malpractice to the attention of his editor, Bedatri Choudhury. Her response: “In retrospect, he should’ve spoken to Mr. Morgan’s family.”

In a recent profile of longtime jazz producer Leo Gadson, Michelle Lyu wrote:

Today, the narrative of jazz is shaped by an essentially white worldview; one which separates it from the people who made the major contribution to its creation and continuance.

This white worldview turned a joyous celebration of Black Excellence into a white savior story. In so doing, The Inquirer tarnished Lee Morgan’s legacy and portrayed his family members in a false light.

Malcolm X is memorialized on the mural that overlooks Lee Morgan’s historical marker. Our Black Shining Prince warned us about newspapers.

The sensationalistic claim published in The Inquirer has readers “hating” the Black family for not knowing the location of Lee Morgan’s gravesite and “loving” the white man who discovered a gravesite that was not lost.

Lee Morgan’s family will correct the false and defamatory claim by any means necessary.

From A Sister, With Love

On February 23, 1974, the Philadelphia Tribune published an open letter, “From A Sister, With Love,” written by Ernestine Morgan Cox, Lee Morgan’s sister.

On April 30, 2024, this sister, along with Lee’s family and the community that loves him, unveiled Edward Lee Morgan’s historical marker.

Lee Morgan was celebrated for the life he lived and the legacy he left. But the struggle continues. Stay tuned.

Edward Lee Morgan Historical Marker Dedication Ceremony

I nominated Edward “Lee” Morgan for a Pennsylvania historical marker on February 19, 2022, the 50th anniversary of his death. I chose that date to ensure the conversation was not solely about how Lee Morgan died. I wanted to shift the conversation to how the legendary trumpeter lived.

In an open letter published in the Philadelphia Tribune on February 23, 1974, Lee’s beloved sister, Ernestine Morgan Cox, wrote:

[T]hough he only lived to be 33, he managed to accomplish more than some of us who have sixty or more years in which to do it… Lee Morgan really lived a full life… Lee did indeed live and he has left an indelible impression on the lives of many whose path he has crossed.

WRTI Editorial Director Nate Chinen wrote an accurate account of how we got here.

Lee Morgan’s historical marker will be dedicated on International Jazz Day. I was privileged to get a sneak peek when I dropped off the cover. The marker is blocked and blurred because the text should not be revealed before the unveiling.

The dedication ceremony will be held on April 30, 2024 at 12pm – rain or shine. The marker will be installed at 52nd and Chancellor Streets, in front of the former site of the Aqua Lounge.

Following the unveiling, we will walk over to the Painted Bride Art Center (5212 Market Street) for a community celebration hosted by the Voices of 52nd Street Oral History Project from 2pm to 3:30pm. It will be an afternoon of sharing memories of Lee Morgan, the Aqua Lounge and “the Strip.”

The celebration will continue at the Black Bottom Jazz Fest featuring the Daud El-Bakara Quartet and the Drexel University Jazztet, presented by the Black Bottom Tribe Association. The concert will be held from 3pm to 6pm at Drexel Square, 3001 Market Street (across from William H. Gray III 30th Street Amtrak Station).