Anderson@Large

#PreservationMatters: African American Burial Grounds

Earlier this month, the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum and the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission organized a public forum, “Just Beneath the Surface: A Public Conversation about Burial Places in and around Philadelphia.”

The purpose of the event was to increase social awareness about the existence of forgotten burial grounds, and identify legal and regulatory tools to protect these sacred sites. Archaeologist Doug Mooney, president of the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum, said:

People tend to react like this is the first time something like this has happened. Philadelphia is built on graveyards.

Since 1985, more than 20 cemeteries have been stumbled upon by contractors or city workers, including the Bethel Burial Ground which in 2016 was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The discovery of the Germantown Potter’s Field stopped the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Queen Lane project for three years.

PAF proposes a 5-point plan to protect Philadelphia’s forgotten burial places:

1. Establish an official policy that historic burial places are important elements of the city’s historical legacy and are worthy of preservation.
2. Create a database/registry of all known historic cemeteries and burial places.
3. List all historic burial places in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places as a Thematic District.
4. Pass an ordinance establishing a process for treating unmarked burial places.
5. Establish clear oversight and accountability roles for city agencies.

Sadly, this is not a new phenomenon. In 1991, an uncivil war of words broke out when skeletal remains were uncovered in Lower Manhattan. After years of protests, meetings, hearings, etc., then-Congressman Augustus Savage told the General Services Administration that funding would be stopped until the matter was resolved. Then as now, money talks. The African Burial Ground National Monument is the final resting place for the remains of 419 free and enslaved Africans.

In the “show me” state, preservationists are dismayed by the lack of love that has been shown to Greenwood Cemetery which dates back to the Reconstruction era. In 2004, Greenwood was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Among the notables interred in Greenwood is Harriet Robinson Scott, a former slave whose husband, Dred Scott, petitioned the courts for his freedom. In the Dred Scott Case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a black person, free or slave, was not and would never be a citizen of the United States.

Jazz guitarist Grant Green and Lee Shelton are also buried in Greenwood.

Shelton was immortalized in Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959.

#PreservationMatters: Germantown Boys and Girls Club

Philadelphia is the first World Heritage City in the United States. In this city’s culture of demolition, places where history happened are frequently tossed on the trash heap of history. The Germantown Boys’ Club (originally the Boys’ Parlors Association) was established in 1887. It is now known as the Germantown Boys and Girls Club. Friends of the club are fighting to save the historic building from the wrecking ball.

On May 12, the Philadelphia Historical Commission considered the nomination of the Germantown Boys and Girls Club submitted by indefatigable architectural historian Oscar Beisert. Parenthetically, Oscar worked 24/7 to try to save the church where Marian Anderson learned to sing. His nomination of the First African Baptist Church preserved the historic church for future generations. Oscar and I collaborated on the nomination of the Malcolm X House.

After three hours of histrionics, the Historical Commission had enough. They voted to table the nomination for 45 days. In the meantime, the opposing sides were encouraged to talk among themselves.

Reverend Dr. Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, began the conversation with a monologue. He opened his Mother’s Day's service by calling out “a small but vocal part of that community”:

You may have heard a lot about the struggle we are presently in in Germantown around the Germantown Boys and Girls Club. Those of you who are from Germantown know that Germantown, like Charles Dickens, is the tale of two cities. … The reason there is a Boys and Girls Club within a mile of each other is because there was a time when there was a white Germantown and a black Germantown. So the black Boys and Girls Club was the Wissahickon Boys and Girls Club and the white Boys and Girls Club was the Germantown Boys and Girls Club.

Now that reality is no longer because, quite frankly, Germantown is black, both sides. But sadly, there are still vestiges of the old mindset. What is taking place in Germantown is that there is an opportunity for the Boys and Girls Club to expand its offering to at the Germantown site. Comcast, along with Ed Snider Hockey, along with some other funders, are attempting to build a new Boys and Girls Club that is going to be inclusive of an ice rink and some other amenities for the community.

The last ditch effort of a very small but vocal part of that community to stop it is to try to get the present building declared a historical site. Now on the surface it sounds like, you know, it’s a good thing to declare it a historical site. Underneath the public argument is fundamentally a group of people who don’t want those children coming into their neighborhood because you have to kind of go through the Penn-Knox neighborhood. And quite frankly, not all of them because there are some wonderful people who really wanna know what the building is going to look like.

Rev. Waller then played the race card:

But the fundamental issue is a race issue and it is a certain crew of people who just don’t want those kids in their neighborhood. I have to call a name because I don’t speak in abstract. The ring leader is a man by the name of Greg Paulmier and he has been historically, the 23 years that I have been here, a lead voice in trying to keep African Americans in a particular pocket. He even on that day called into question my love for the children of this community because I don’t live here.

The Penn-Knox neighborhood is a “family-oriented area, with many residents having raised their families here, and younger residents raising children. Many people are professionals, and range from lawyers and teachers to artists and business people.”

Truth be told, racists who have options do not raise their families in an overwhelmingly black community.

Aaron Wunsch, an assistant professor of historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania, told me: “Germantown is the closest Philly has to an integrated neighborhood.” Prof. Wunsch’s observation was underscored by archivist and historian J.M. Duffin: “It’s completely absurd because white racists don’t choose to buy houses in Germantown and live next to two organizations, the Boys & Girls Club and PAL, that were there long before any of the neighbors and have been serving primarily African American youth.”

Time will tell what is underneath Rev. Waller’s race-baiting. Like the reverend and many of his allies, I don’t live in Germantown. As a lifelong activist, I care about children in every community. I grew up in an impoverished neighborhood so I know first-hand the importance of exposing children to the possibilities.

Knowing one’s history also transforms lives. The Germantown Boys and Girls Club is associated with the Great Migration. The building exemplifies the economic, cultural, political and social heritage of the city and nation. It holds stories of de facto segregation, resistance and white flight. The club’s past is part of African Americans’ story of separate and unequal facilities. Germantown’s history of racial segregation should not be erased from public memory. Fact is, the club's past informs our present. Philadelphia is the 4th most segregated big city in the country.

The Historical Commission is not the venue to settle old scores or impugn motives. The sole issue before the Commission should be whether to accept the recommendation of the Committee on Historic Designation to add the Germantown Boys and Girls Club to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. If the 119-year-old building meets the criteria, it should be added to the list. Point, blank, period.

Preservation Month 2017

May is Preservation Month, a time to celebrate places that matter to you.

On May 6, I led a Jane’s Walk, “Ridge Avenue Stroll through Philly’s Jazz History.” The first stop was the legendary Blue Note.

The Ray Bryant Trio was the Blue Note’s house band. It is interesting to note that Bryant co-wrote the smash hit, “The Madison Time,” which was released in 1959.

The highlight of the stroll was 2125 Ridge Avenue, the former location of the Checker Café, a “black and tan” (read: racially integrated) jazz club. The nightclub’s motto was “Good Food. Good Cooks. Good Service.” One of the servers was a teenage singing waitress named Pearl Bailey.

Since October 2016, I’ve been locked in battle with the Philadelphia Housing Authority which wants to demolish the building that has been a visual anchor for more than 100 years. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission agreed with me the building is of historical significance. Last week, PHA signed a programmatic agreement that saves the building for now. Under the agreement, PHA must stabilize the building.

I say for now because PHA has made it clear it wants to demolish the building. I guess it doesn’t fit their “vision” for a revitalized Ridge Avenue. In an area full of vacant lots, PHA wants to replace a building that is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places with yet another vacant lot.

I encouraged the 40+ people who participated in my Jane’s Walk to make some noise and tell decision-makers that this place matters. If you care about preserving Philadelphia’s cultural heritage, DM me on Twitter or send message to phillyjazzapp[@]gmail.com.

Philly’s Pay-to-Play Culture and World Heritage City

In 2014, former Mayor Michael Nutter crowed that Philadelphia was the “permanent venue” of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Summit, beating out New York City. Forbes editor Randall Lane said Philly was chosen because it’s “a world class city.”

It was later reported that Nutter paid $1.7 million from the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia to play host to the summit. The relationship broke up earlier this year when Mayor Jim Kenney balked at paying $2 million to keep the event in Philadelphia. So Lane said, “Bye Philly,” and moved to Boston.

In November 2015, Nutter and Global Philadelphia Association (Global Philadelphia) crowed that Philly is now the first World Heritage City in the U.S. It was widely reported the designation was made by UNESCO. In fact, the designation was made by the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), a nonprofit based in Canada. The only eligibility requirement is a city must have an UNESCO World Heritage site. Philadelphia qualifies because Independence Hall is on the UNESCO list.

At the time, I wondered why other U.S. cities with a World Heritage site, including Charlottesville (Monticello and University of Virginia), New York City (Statute of Liberty) and San Antonio (San Antonio Missions) were not OWHC members. Well, as it turns out, OWHC membership is pay-to-play. In addition to $10,000 annual membership dues, members must pay a pro-rated share of OWHC’s expenses.

Philadelphia is the first World Heritage City in the U.S. because no other city is interested in what is effectively a pay-to-play designation.

Global Philadelphia’s conflation of UNESCO and OWHC teed me off. But what keeps me peed off is Global Philadelphia/World Heritage PHL’s silence as developers wreak havoc to the city’s historic fabric and cultural heritage. As guests clink glasses at this week’s “World Heritage Celebration,” Toll Brothers  is poised to wreck Jewelers’ Row, America’s oldest diamond district that dates back to 1850.

If a bunch of one-percenters wants to celebrate a “brand,” hey, that’s their business. It becomes the people’s business when public funds are involved. By the way, Nutter is now a member of Global Philadelphia’s World Heritage Committee.

And get this: Nutter’s handpicked chairperson tapped the Mayor’s Fund and made a $10,000 grant to Global Philadelphia. The grant award reportedly was made over the objection of the Fund’s board of directors.

The board rejected Global Philadelphia’s $25,000 grant proposal “to market the city to the World Heritage City selection committee.” According to the minutes, the board deemed the “designation of Philadelphia as a World Heritage City is not a high priority.”

As preservationists fight to save historic buildings (and here), Global Philadelphia/World Heritage PHL’s silence speaks volumes that historic preservation is not a high priority.

I finally got a response, albeit incomplete, to my Right-to-Know request. I now know that three City employees went to Arequipa, Peru for the meeting of the OWHC selection committee.

Of the three employees, only one submitted a Reimbursable Expense Voucher. Sylvie Gallier-Howard is on Global Philadelphia’s board of directors.

Where are the other expense vouchers? Were the employees’ airline and lodging expenses paid for with the unauthorized $10,000 grant to Global Philadelphia? The City of Philadelphia is doling out the information piecemeal but this citizen watchdog is not deterred. Instead, I’m submitting another Right-to-Know request.

Stay with me.

Philly’s Political Cultural Heritage

On July 15, 2009, I moved to Philadelphia. I’m a walker who has enjoyed discovering the city’s hidden history and cultural heritage. The once underrated City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection is now a magnet for millennials and empty-nesters.

I’m also a lifelong activist and citizen watchdog. The reactions to the conviction on all counts of Congressman Chaka Fattah showcase the underbelly of Philly’s political culture which more than 100 years ago was described as “corrupt and contented.” Fattah and his enablers boast about his “accomplishments.” Fact is, the poverty rate in the second congressional district is higher today than when Fattah was first elected in 1994.

With an overall poverty rate of 26.3 percent, Philadelphia is the poorest big city in America. Nearly 37 percent of the city’s children live in poverty. Philly has the highest rate of deep poverty (12.9 percent) of the nation’s 10 most populous cities. Roughly 200,000 residents have incomes below half of the poverty line.

There’s not enough money for the schools or affordable housing. Even with the new soda tax, Mayor Jim Kenney’s goal of universal pre-K remains elusive.

So my antennae went up when I read in Hidden City Philadelphia the City was on the hook to pay the $10,000 annual dues for Global Philadelphia Association’s membership in the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC):

There are no application forms for membership into the OWHC and no official guidelines, which perhaps has added to critics’ claims that Philadelphia was merely joining a private club.

[…]

“You need to get voted into the World Heritage City Club,” says brand strategist Alan Jacobson. “It’s kind of like getting into the baseball Hall of Fame. You don’t need a certain number of runs to get in. You just need to be accepted by the group.” Plus pay the annual membership dues–$10,000, a sum guaranteed by the City of Philadelphia (the U.S. government pays substantial annual dues to UNESCO, on account of U.S. World Heritage Sites, including Independence Hall).

Global Philadelphia Association (GPA) self-servingly conflates UNESCO’s designation of Independence Hall as a World Heritage Site and OWHC’s designation of Philadelphia as a World Heritage City. Fact is, OWHC and Global Philadelphia Association are private organizations. GPA’s board of directors includes the politically-connected one percent and a stunning lack of diversity.

Last year, the City got stuck with an $8 million bill for an event organized by a private organization, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Looking ahead, I’m concerned that taxpayers’ money will be used to pay for political insiders’ annual membership fee in a private club and junkets to the OWHC General Assembly.

World Heritage Philadelphia, the “brand,” has maintained a deafening silence as historic buildings, including the church where the legendary contralto Marian Anderson learned to sing, are demolished.

I want to know how much the City has shelled out for the World Heritage City “brand.” I also want to know what it will cost the poorest big city in the U.S. to remain a “member in good standing” in a private organization. Under OWHC bylaws, the City of Philadelphia may be obligated to pay the pro-rated expenses of a Canadian organization.

To get some answers, I filed a Right to Know request. Stay tuned.