Category Archives: Historical Society of Pennsylvania

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, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Message In Our Music

To celebrate Black Music Month, I will give a gallery talk highlighting some of the items in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s exhibit, “Message In Our Music.” The items span the 1770s to the 1970s.

It was illegal for the enslaved to learn how to read or write. Stories and cultural practices were passed down from generation to generation in the music. In the prelude to gospel legend Bobby Jones’ “Just A Closer Walk with Thee,” Maya Angelou said, “They sung us all the way out of slavery.”

Music was the first draft of Black history.

One of the items in the exhibit is a collection of spirituals sung before the Civil War, including Free At Las’, compiled by Edward Avery McIlhenny whose family enslaved hundreds of Black people.

“Free at last” has resonated with African Americans for hundreds of years. The significance of the phrase was lost on Kroger. The supermarket chain came under fire for selling Juneteenth cakes decorated with AI slop.

TikToker Blaq Monalisa posted images of the cakes saying:

Y’all decorate everything else around here cute, everything else around here cute. But for Juneteenth, you wanna just throw something on a freaking cookie cake and expect someone to buy it.

The video went viral. After the backlash, Kroger said the “products have been removed” from the store.

This is a teachable moment. NBC News reported:

The phrase “free at last” is known for being a prominent part of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, borrowed from the title of a Negro-Spiritual song. And now the phrase, which represents a hard-fought struggle, is being featured on a supermarket cake, casually scribbled in internet shorthand.

As you will see in the “Message In Our Music” exhibit, the phrase predates Julia Perry’s 1951 composition.

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

UPDATE: Check out 6abc Action News’ report about the exhibition.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Black Music Month 2025

In his 1697 play “The Mourning Bride,” William Congreve wrote: “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”

Ever since the ancestors were brought here in the bowels of a slave ship, songs gave voice to their suffering and longing for freedom.

The experience of the enslaved is “the wellspring of Black music” (h/t Amiri Baraka).

From Black Suffering to Black Joy, there is a message in our music.

It was an honor and pleasure to tell the story of Black music using music scores, documents, photographs, books and ephemera in the archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for their new exhibit, Voices of the Community: Local Black Preservation.

The exhibit “explores the history, migration, and preservation” of African American communities in Philadelphia, and Lawnside, New Jersey.

The opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 12, 2025, from 6pm to 8pm. The event is free and open to the public. To register for the reception, please go here.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage, Historic Preservation, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Voices of the Community: Local Black Preservation

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania will unveil a new exhibit, Voices of the Community: Local Preservation in Philadelphia, on June 12, 2025. The exhibit explores the history and preservation of Black communities in Philadelphia and Lawnside, New Jersey. I am one of the community curators, along with Shamele Jordon.

The exhibit focuses on four themes:​

  • ​Black Joy: Development of Lawnside, the only historically African-American incorporated municipality in the Northern United States​
  • Sounds of Freedom, Resistance and Resilience​
  • Fulfilling America’s Promise: Founding of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH)​
  • All Power to the People: Local community efforts to preserve and restore Black Philadelphia

With the “Sounds of Freedom, Resistance and Resilience,” I use archival materials to tell the story of Black music from the 1770s to the 1970s.

Voices of the Community: Local Preservation in Philadelphia will be on view June 12, 2025 to September 26, 2025. To be added to the mailing list for the exhibit opening and my gallery talk, send your name and email address to phillyjazzapp@gmail.com.

Advocacy, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Moses Williams, Task Force 250

Black History Matters

With little fanfare, President Trump has tapped Hillsdale College to produce a video series, “The Story of America.” A member of the Project 2025 network, the conservative Christian college’s demographically monochromatic faculty and student body does not look like America.

The teaching of Black history is under attack from the White House to state houses. It is not in my DNA to bend the knee. I am speaking about Moses Williams at the upcoming public history teach-in co-hosted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and 1838 Black Metropolis.

Moses Williams was enslaved by Charles Willson Peale whose portrait of George Washington is prominently displayed in Trump’s tricked out Oval Office. The title of my presentation is “Mapping Moses Williams’ Philadelphia.”

On Friday, April 25, historian and artist Nell Irvin Painter will give a keynote address, “Arrived, New Names.” Painter “will set the tone for exploring how creative projects can share complicated and compelling histories.”

On Saturday, April 25, public historians, educators, artists, preservationists and community members will share strategies on how they are breathing life into the archives to tell untold or undertold stories, and stories of belonging.

The event is open to the public. To register, go here.