Civil rights icon and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. King celebrated his last birthday in 1968.
Since 1986, the nation has observed Dr. King’s birthday on the third Monday of January.
Stevie Wonder helped build support for a national holiday “to show just how much we love” the drum major for justice. Happy birthday, Dr. King.
Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) was the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. Known for his courage inside and outside the ring, Ali was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and religious freedom.
Ali didn’t just star in the boxing ring. He also starred in the Broadway musical “Buck White.”
Game recognizes game.
The three-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion was a cultural icon and global humanitarian. Ali’s honors include the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2005); Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Century (1999); BBC Sports Personality of the Century (1999); and United Nations Messenger of Peace (1998).
Visibly affected by Parkinson’s disease, Ali lit the Olympic flame at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.
Ali once said, “I should be a postage stamp, because that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.”
The U.S. Postal Service will honor Ali with two stamps. The first-day-of-issue ceremony for the Muhammad Ali Forever stamps will be held on January 15, 2026 in Ali’s hometown, Louisville, Kentucky.
Ali will forever be remembered as “The Greatest.”
A few days before Fall of Freedom walking tour of Billie Holiday’s Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer published my opinion piece in which I wrote:
No artist has met the moment with more courage than Lady Day, whose 1939 recording of “Strange Fruit” was named song of the century by Time magazine in 1999, and was added to the National Recording Registry in 2002.
“Strange Fruit” is a timeless and empowering act of creative resistance
While Holiday is sui generis, jazz musicians were the vanguard of the civil rights movement.
At so-called black and tan clubs like the Down Beat and the Blue Note, Black and white people intermingled on an equal basis for the first time.
Jazz clubs were constantly harassed by Philadelphia police led by vice squad Capt. Clarence Ferguson and his protégé, Inspector Frank Rizzo. The nightspots became battlegrounds in the struggle for racial justice. Jazz musicians’ unbowed demeanor fashioned a new racial identity
[…]
Courage is contagious. When we gather on South Broad, we are the resistance.
In collaboration with Scribe Video Center, the walking tour began at the Academy of Music where Billie had several engagements, including on May 6, 1946.
We stopped at the former location of the Radnor Hotel, a Green Book site, where Billie and her husband-manager, Louis McKay, were arrested on February 23, 1956. The raid was led by Captain Clarence Ferguson of the Philadelphia Police vice squad. The arrest is depicted in the biopic United States vs. Billie Holiday.
The penultimate stop was the site of Emerson’s Tavern, the jazz club where Billie last performed in Philadelphia. Emerson’s is the setting for the Broadway play, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”
The walk and talk ended at the former Attucks Hotel where on May 15, 1947, Billie’s room was raided while she was performing at the Earle Theater. Billie got a heads-up and fled to New York City where three days later she was arrested. She was subsequently convicted of narcotics possession and sentenced to one year and one day. Billie served her time at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia.
The following Monday, I plastered the sticker that was given to participants all over Freeman Alley, a graffitied place of remembrance on the Lower East Side. Freedman Alley is located about a mile from Café Society, the Greenwich Village jazz club where Billie first sang “Strange Fruit.”
In the participant feedback survey, I expressed my hope that Fall of Freedom would lead to Winter of Discontent and Freedom Summer.
To stay in the loop, send your name and email address to phillyjazzapp@gmail.com.
Authoritarian regimes throughout history have targeted artists and cultural institutions. Early in his administration, President Trump issued an executive order that targeted the Smithsonian Institution.
Trump has taken over federal arts agencies and installed himself as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He threatens to withhold federal funding from organizations that do not bend the knee.
Nina Simone said an artist’s duty is to reflect the times and the situations in which they find themselves.
Today, we find ourselves in a situation in which Trump wants to control the narrative.
Fall of Freedom issued an urgent call to artists, creators and cultural workers to stand united against the assault on our constitutional rights and authoritarian control. Fall of Freedom is a celebration of art, courage, and free expression.
No artist reflected the times more courageously than Billie Holiday whose recording of “Strange Fruit” was named Song of the Century by Time magazine in 1999 and included in the National Recording Registry in 2002.
Join All That Philly Jazz and Scribe Video Center on November 22, 2025 for this nationwide wave of creative resistance.
The walking tour will be guided by All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson whose advocacy led to Billie’s induction into the Philadelphia Walk of Fame. We will visit the venues where Billie sang, the hotels where she stayed, and the site of the jazz club immortalized in the Tony Award®-winning “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”
Along the way, we will stop at places connected to Nina Simone and Paul Robeson, artists who, like Billie, used their voices to speak truth to power.
The event is free and open to all, but registration is required. To reserve your spot, scan the QR code or go here.
Art matters. Courage is contagious. We are the resistance.
Early voting is underway in many states. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
Your vote is your voice. A high voter turnout will send a message to the wannabe dictator in the White House. So be careful how you vote.
The last Sunday in October is Visit a Cemetery Day. It’s an annual observance to promote a connection with the past, honor the memories of those who came before us, and appreciate the historical and cultural significance of cemeteries.
Before cities built public parks, cemeteries were the first green spaces open to everyone. In the 19th century, rural cemeteries were designed as peaceful, landscaped grounds where people could walk, picnic and reflect. Their winding paths, trees, and gardens offered an escape from crowded urban life. These “cities of the dead” influenced the design of public parks. Historic cemeteries like Laurel Hill in Philadelphia and Green-Wood in New York City remain vital, beautiful green spaces.
That history was lost on me in my youth. When I was in high school, I avoided taking the shortcut to school because I did not want to walk through a cemetery. Fast forward to today, St. Peter’s Churchyard is a stop on my Moses Williams’ Philadelphia walking tour. St. Peter’s is the final resting place of Moses’ enslaver, Charles Willson Peale.
Master silhouette artist Moses Williams was interred in Northwest Burial Ground on December 20, 1830.
At the time, the cemetery was located at 16th and Fairmount. Sometime between 1860 and 1875, the Northwest Burial Ground was sold, the bodies disinterred, and the land developed. The bodies were reinterred in Mount Moriah Cemetery in West Philadelphia. So presumably that’s where Moses’ remains are located.
I’m digging in the archives to confirm that Mount Moriah is indeed Moses’ final resting place. I want to find his remains so that I can see that Moses’ grave is kept clean.
Join All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson for a stroll through North Broad’s storied jazz history. We will walk the streets of North Philly and stop at places that hold the stories of legends-in-the-making like Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown, James Brown, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti LaBelle, Lee Morgan and Grover Washington Jr.
Our journey will take us to such sites as the Hotel Carlyle, Pyramid Club, Heritage House/Freedom Theatre, Cameo Room, Barber’s Hall, Flamingo Apartments, Nixon Grand Theater and Mitten Hall.
📅 Saturday, October 25, 2025
🕙 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
💬 Free and open to the public (space is limited)
Registration is required. Reserve your spot here.
“A Stroll Through North Broad’s Jazz History” is organized by Scribe Video Center. The North Philadelphia History Festival is supported by the William Penn Foundation.
All That Philly Jazz 