Anderson@Large

Happy Birthday, Dr. King

Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. This year marks the 39th anniversary of the first observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday.

In 1986, an all-star collective of artists, including El DeBarge, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Run–DMC, Whitney Houston, Teena Marie, Stephanie Mills, James “JT” Taylor and Whodini, released a tribute song, “King Holiday,” celebrating Dr. King and the new holiday.

We’re still celebrating the “drum major for justice.” Happy heavenly birthday, Dr. King.

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.

International Underground Railroad Month

International Underground Railroad Month is a designated time to celebrate the history and legacy of the Underground Railroad. Observed annually in September, the month highlights the courage and resilience of the enslaved who used a covert network of antislavery activists and safe havens to escape bondage.

The State of Maryland proclaimed September as International Underground Railroad Month in 2019:

Governor Larry Hogan today proclaimed September as International Underground Railroad Month, which recognizes Maryland as the most powerful destination for authentic Underground Railroad history. It also commemorates all those involved in the Underground Railroad, including Maryland’s courageous Harriet Tubman, the brilliant orator Frederick Douglass, and thousands of freedom seekers.

Frederick Douglass embarked on his journey to freedom on September 3, 1838. Harriet Tubman began her escape on September 17, 1849.

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.

Black Music Month: Max Roach

This year marks the centennial of the birth of drummer, composer, bandleader and activist Max Roach. His groundbreaking album, “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite,” was influenced by the Emancipation Proclamation and the emerging Civil Rights Movement.

Born in North Carolina, Roach’s family moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, when he was four. He grew up near the corner of Greene and Marcy avenues where the City of New York has co-named a street for the iconic drummer. Fittingly, the “Max Roach Way” co-naming ceremony was held on Juneteenth, Freedom Day.

The Library of Congress recently opened the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery.

The permanent gallery, “Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress,” features more than 120 items from across the Library’s holdings. The depository for the Max Roach Papers, the manuscript page for “We Insist!” is on display in the new gallery.

The Black History of Memorial Day

Originally called Decoration Day, Congress established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in 1968. The undertold history of Memorial Day dates back to the Civil War.

First observed in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865, thousands of African Americans, including the formerly enslaved, 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and 34th and 104th United States Colored Troops, were led by children as they gathered to honor 257 Union soldiers who were buried in a mass grave on Washington Race Course which was used as a Confederate prison camp.

The ancestors exhumed the mass grave, reburied the bodies and decorated their graves; hence, Decoration Day.

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.