Category Archives: Cultural Heritage Preservation

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, John Coltrane, Public Art

Coltrane Deserves Better

October is Mural Arts Month in the “Mural Capital of the World.” USA Today and 10Best.com voted Philadelphia Best City for Street Art. The expert panel and readers recognize that street art “speaks to a city’s culture and personality.”

The condition of the Ridge on the Rise mural speaks volumes about the city’s split personality. As Philadelphia celebrates a century of John Coltrane, a tribute to Trane has become a symbol of civic neglect.

In August and September, I escorted busloads of visitors to the Ridge on the Rise mural. I was embarrassed as they posed for photos in front of the deteriorating cultural landmark.

On my bus tour, “Tracing Trane: John Coltrane’s North Philadelphia,” there were two international visitors, one from London and a distinguished visitor from Japan. Yasuhiro “Fuji” Fujioka is the co-author of “The John Coltrane Reference.” This is a photo of Fuji in front of the Ridge on the Rise mural.

Courtesy of Jewell A. Newton

Brian Earley was on the bus tour. He saw the condition of the mural and said something. In a letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker, Brian wrote:

On Sunday, September 27, I participated in a wonderfully conducted tour of North Philadelphia, a tour that examined the historical legacy of Philadelphia itself as the tour followed the footsteps of John Coltrane’s years living in Philadelphia.

[…]

More upsetting for me, however, is the condition of the mural on the south facing wall of 2125 Ridge Avenue. This wall overlooks a vacant lot where once stood the famous Pearl Theater. This theater famously hosted many figures of important international significance. John Coltrane performed there, as did Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Pearl Bailey herself was discovered here.

This mural, which prominently features Cecil B. Moore, Pearl Bailey, and John Coltrane is crumbling. The bottom half of John Coltrane’s body has already fallen and is lying in pieces on the grass below.

What is problematic for me is that members of the tour included current influential figures, including famous jazz writer Yasuhiro Fujioka, who had traveled all the way from Japan to visit this and other important sites in Philadelphia. I regret to say this moment was a little embarrassing for me and for the city of Philadelphia. At one of Philadelphia’s finest hours, one of the greatest celebrations a city could hold for an artist of musical import, I had to see people who traveled from far away to see John Coltrane’s Philadelphia in a state of disrepair. What they witnessed was mostly warmth, beauty, and tremendous respect for John Coltrane and for Philadelphia’s history. But 2125 Ridge Avenue and its important mural told a conflicting story: one of neglect and disinterest.

Your voice matters. If you, too, believe that John Coltrane deserves better, contact the responsible officials. Tell them to take immediate action to assess and restore the mural.

📩 Contact:
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker
City Hall, Office 215
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 686-2181
Contact the Mayor Online Form

Mural Arts Philadelphia
1727-29 Mt. Vernon Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 685-0750
info@muralarts.org
Report a Mural in Need of Maintenance

Councilmember Jeffery Young, Jr.
City Hall, Room 586
Philadelphia, PA 19107
jeffery.young@phila.gov
(215) 686-3442, (215) 686-3443
Report an Issue Online Form

The Ridge on the Rise mural must be restored before winter weather finishes what civic neglect started.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Historic Preservation, President Trump

Section 106 Matters

On July 24, President Trump’s bootlickers on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted to gut Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. For six decades, Section 106 has required the federal government to examine whether federally funded, licensed or permitted projects would have an “adverse effect” on properties listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The protection applies to housing, transportation, infrastructure, federal properties, community development, and other projects.

The proposed changes would dismantle public safeguards by:

  • Silencing public and community participation;
  • Weakening consultation with state and local preservation agencies;
  • Limiting consideration of alternatives that could prevent or minimize damage to historic places;
  • Giving federal agencies greater power to approve projects with far less public accountability.

The public review process was written into the law because Americans understood that once a historic building is demolished, a community’s cultural heritage is erased and there is no bringing it back.

Section 106 has never been about stopping progress. It is about ensuring that development does not come at the expense of history, culture, and community voices. It guarantees that the public has a seat at the table before the wrecking ball arrives.

Brent Leggs, President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in a statement:

The ACHP’s proposed changes to Section 106 will eviscerate the preservation of our shared civic and cultural heritage in the United States.

In 2017, I used the Section 106 review process to block the Philadelphia Housing Authority from demolishing 2125 Ridge Avenue, the former location of the Checker Café. The property is one of the few extant buildings from Philadelphia’s golden age of jazz.

The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office agreed with me that 2125 Ridge Avenue is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. PHA was forced to stabilize the structure.

In the intervening years, PHA has let the building further deteriorate. Even in its dilapidated state, 2125 Ridge Avenue has more character than the cookie-cutter apartment buildings that now line Ridge Avenue from the former location of the Blue Note to the Checker Café.

The Blue Note and Checker Café are stops on the upcoming Neighborhood Jawnts Tour Series: Jazz in North Philly. I will lead the trolley tour the weekend of August 14-16, 2026.

The trolley tour is free and open to the public. Registration is required. To register, go here.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Historic Preservation

Black Music Month 2026

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Established in 1979, Black Music Month celebrates the profound impact and global influence of African American musicians, songwriters, and producers on the cultural fabric of the world. It is also a celebration of the places that hold their stories.

Philadelphia’s Uptown Theater was one of the premier music venues in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. It was a stop on the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” the network of performance spaces that provided opportunities for African American entertainers during the Jim Crow era. Opened on February 16, 1929, the 2,040-seat Art Deco theater began life as a movie palace.

During its heyday, the Uptown rivaled Harlem’s Apollo Theater as the place to hear good music on the East Coast. Jazz legends who graced the Uptown stage included Miles Davis, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Gloria Lynne, Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Ramsey Lewis, Oscar Brown Jr., Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and Jimmy Smith.

The Uptown was where jazz, blues, rhythm & blues, and soul music met.

In 1958, legendary disc jockey and civil rights activist Georgie Woods, “The Man with the Goods,” began producing shows at the Uptown with future legends, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett, Smokey Robinson, Jackson 5, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight.

The final curtain was in 1978. The Uptown Entertainment & Development Corporation (UEDC) is breathing life into the historic landmark. In commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, UEDC will take us on a trip down memory lane.

Join UEDC for a journey through music, culture, and North Philadelphia history. Explore a pop-up museum featuring artifacts and stories from those who experienced the Uptown firsthand. Highlights include a drone virtual theater tour, film screenings, songwriting and recording workshops, and a mini-concert.

The event is open to the public but reservations are required. To RSVP, go here.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Hercules Posey, Lee Morgan

Established by UNESCO in 2011, International Jazz Day is celebrated annually on April 30 to recognize jazz as a universal language of freedom and creativity. Led by legendary keyboardist, composer and bandleader Herbie Hancock, the day highlights the genre’s power to promote peace, dialogue among cultures, and respect for human rights.

Earlier this year, Hancock held a Zoom call with organizers of International Jazz Day events. He said “jazz is America’s contribution to the world. Jazz is about creativity and sharing this planet as a family.”

On International Jazz Day 2024, Lee Morgan’s historical marker was dedicated.

I will spend part of International Jazz Day 2026 preparing the nomination of Hercules Posey, President George Washington’s enslaved chief cook, for a Pennsylvania historical marker.

Later that evening, I will view the livestream of the All-Star Global Concert from Chicago, Hancock’s hometown.

The concert will be streamed on YouTube.

Cultural Heritage, Cultural Heritage Preservation

Women’s History Month: Melba Liston

I will close out Women’s History Month with jazz pioneer Melba Liston (1926-1999). Liston holds the distinction of being the first woman to be regularly featured as a player, composer, and arranger with a major jazz band.

From the National Endowment for the Arts:

Although a formidable trombone player, Melba Liston was primarily known for her arrangements, especially working with Randy Weston, and compositions. Growing up mostly in Los Angeles, some of her first work came during the 1940s with two West Coast masters: bandleader Gerald Wilson and tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon. In Gordon’s small combos, she began to blossom as a trombone soloist, and Gordon wrote a song as a tribute to her, “Mischievous Lady.” Despite her obvious talent as a soloist, Liston became an in-demand big band section player, which likely fueled her later work as an arranger. During the 1940s, Liston also worked with the Count Basie band and with Billie Holiday.

Following a brief hiatus from music, she joined Dizzy Gillespie’s bebop big band in 1950, and again for two of Gillespie’s State Department tours in 1956 and 1957, which included her arrangements of “Annie’s Dance” and “Stella by Starlight” in performances. She started her own all-woman quintet in 1958, working in New York and Bermuda, before joining Quincy Jones’ band in 1959 to play the musical Free and Easy. She stayed in Jones’ touring band as one of two-woman members until 1961.

In 1959, Liston arranged and conducted Gloria Lynne’s album, Lonely and Sentimental.

During the late 1960s and ‘70s, Liston worked as a staff arranger at Motown Records. In this role, she was responsible for arranging and conducting for several artists, including Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Billy Eckstine.

In the 1980s, Liston taught at the University of the West Indies and was director of Popular Music Studies at the Jamaica Institute of Music. A stroke in 1985 ended her playing career. She was able to resume work as a composer and arranger in the 1990s through the aid of computer technology.

Liston was named an NEA Jazz Master in 1987.

Melba Liston was recently celebrated at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

Cultural Heritage Preservation

Sun Ra: A Cosmic Visionary Who Dared to Do the Impossible

Sun Ra, born Herman Poole Blount (1914-1993), grew up in the Jim Crow South and later transformed himself into a celestial being from Saturn. He created cultural aesthetics that imagined liberation from racism and white supremacist shackles. Sun Ra fused swing, bebop, free jazz, electric keyboards and synthesizers to create his sui generis avant-garde sound.

Sun Ra’s embrace of Egyptian iconography, space-age imagery and alternative historiography laid the foundation for aliberatory technology, a future of possibilities in a society that said there weren’t any. The “Godfather of Afrofuturism” reimagined Black identity across space and time. His influence is recognized in venerable cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

This week, PBS American Masters will premiere Sun Ra: Do the Impossible, a feature-length documentary that provides a definitive look at the life and cosmic philosophy of the jazz visionary.

The documentary explores Sun Ra’s early years in Birmingham, Alabama, his formative time in Chicago where he established the communal lifestyle of the Arkestra, and his later years in Philadelphia.

Sun Ra: Do the Impossible premieres Friday, February 20 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Moses Williams, Walking Tour

Moses Williams’ Philadelphia Walking Tour

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October is National Arts and Humanities Month. All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson will lead a walking tour of the people, places and events in Moses Williams’ Philadelphia.

The first Black museum professional and master silhouette artist, Moses Williams was born into slavery in August 1776 in the household of Charles Willson Peale, “Portrait Painter of the Revolution.”

Faye successfully nominated Moses Williams (1776-1830) for a Pennsylvania historical marker. The marker will be dedicated in 2026, the 250th anniversary of his birth.

The walk and talk will start at 3rd and Lombard streets, near the site of the home of Charles Willson Peale, and end at Philosophical Hall, near the proposed location for installation of Moses Williams’ historical marker (.06 mile).

Points of interest along the way include:

  • Site of the home of entrepreneur and abolitionist James Forten;
  • Charles Willson Peale’s gravesite;
  • Church where George Washington and Absalom Jones worshipped;
  • Site of the home of Francis Johnson, the forefather of jazz;
  • Site of the first Black Episcopal church in the United States;
  • Locations of Peale’s Museum; and
  • Organization founded by Benjamin Franklin that has a collection of Moses Williams’ silhouettes.

The walking tour will be held on select Saturdays in 2026. To be added to the mailing list, send your name and email address to phillyjazzapp@gmail.com.

Cultural Heritage, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

September was designated Gospel Music Heritage Month in 2008 following the passage of House Joint Resolution 90 sponsored by the late Representative Sheila Jackson Lee. The resolution highlighted gospel music’s deep roots in the African American experience and acknowledged its influence on other genres, including jazz, blues, soul, R&B and rock.

Gospel music is how African Americans got over during the Jim Crow era.

Formed in 1928, the Dixie Hummingbirds were one of the most popular and influential gospel groups. Their best-known recordings include “Thank You For One More Day,” “I’ve Been Born Again,” and “Loves Me Like a Rock” which won the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance.

On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection will host a talk with Dr. Lynn Peterson, author of “Flying with the Birds: Rev. Joe Williams, The Last Original Member of the Iconic Dixie Hummingbirds.”

Also on September 24, I will give a gallery talk about the exhibit that I curated for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, “Message In Our Music.” I will highlight objects in the exhibit related to gospel music, including Bishop Richard Allen’s collection of hymns and spirituals, a program from the Jubilee Singers’ 1873 concert at the Academy of Music, and a reel-to-reel tape of a live performance by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

The gallery talk is free and open to the public. To register, go here.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Historic Preservation

The inaugural North Philadelphia History Festival, a celebration of African American and Puerto Rican heritage through art, music, film, history and culture, will be held July 24-27, 2025.

Events and activations will take place throughout North Philly. The festival will feature photo exhibitions, visual installations, film screenings, panel discussions, a walking tour, and live performances curated by scholars, artists, cultural workers and community members, including Diane Turner, PhD, Leslie Willis Lowry, Jacqueline Wiggins, Christopher R. Rogers, PhD, and 1838 Black Metropolis.

All events are free but space is limited. To learn more and RSVP, go here.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Jazz Venues

Women’s History Month: U.S. Postal Service

President Trump has floated a plan to privatize the U.S. Postal Service. The United States Post Office Department was established in 1792. Enslaved Africans delivered mail and packages between plantations and towns. Before the introduction of home mail delivery in 1863, enslaved Africans often carried mail to and from the post office.

Mary Fields, aka Stagecoach Mary, was the first African American to carry mail on a Star Route for the Post Office Department.

Minnie M. Cox was the first Black female postmaster.

Mrs. Cox definitely earned it. Still, the white citizens of Indianola, Mississippi petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt to remove her from office. Roosevelt refused:

Initially, very few complaints were raised about Mrs. Cox’s appointment as postmaster. As time passed, however, concerns arose from the citizens of Indianola. During this time, Republican politics were being restructured by President Theodore Roosevelt, and the new party stance shifted so that it no longer continued the Reconstruction policy of placing African Americans to political appointments. The white citizens of Indianola called for the elimination of African Americans from leadership positions, and specifically for the removal of Mrs. Cox. In doing so, they hoped to create an opening for a white postmaster.

[…]

These threats concerned postal inspector Charles Fitzgerald, who suggested that “as a bona fide federal officer, Mrs. Cox should be protected, by federal troops if necessary, in the discharge of her duties.” However, President Roosevelt made it clear that there would be no need for federal troops and refused to accept Mrs. Cox’s resignation. Instead, he suspended the Indianola post office on January 2, 1903. Through this suspension, Roosevelt effectively showed Indianola citizens that mail would be rerouted until Mrs. Cox could resume her duties. The atmosphere, however, became so hostile that Mrs. Cox left Indianola for her own safety on January 5, 1903.

In response to the town’s actions against Mrs. Cox, President Roosevelt ordered the Attorney General to prosecute any citizens who had violently threatened Mrs. Cox. Furthermore, the Postmaster General decided to reduce the rank of the Indianola Post Office from a third-class to a fourth-class office on the grounds that the year’s lower postal receipts did not warrant third-class status.

A jazz club in South Philly paid homage to postal workers and the role of the Postal Service in building the Black middle class.

The Postal Service offered opportunities for Black high school graduates, as well as those with undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. In 1940, approximately 14 percent of all middle-class African Americans worked for the Postal Service; 28 percent had at least some college education compared to 4.9 percent of the Black population in general.

Today, African Americans represent approximately 29 percent of the postal workforce.

The Postal Service also preserves African American history and culture in public memory.

A complete list of the phenomenal Black women who have been honored with a postage stamp is available here.