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Description
Art Sanctuary and Philadelphia City Council Leadership Presents: The Fifth Annual African American History Month Program
Pieces from the Past: Voices Heroic Women in Civil Rights
Featuring:
Hope Church School Choir
Sistahs Laying Down Hands
Jayda Hepburn, Mighty Writers
A
Members
that
are
here
to
our
partner,
huge
partner,
Valerie
gay
of
art,
sanctuary
who
joined
with
members
of
my
staff
and
members
of
the
president's
staff
to
make
this
morning
real.
And
lastly,
thank
you
again
to
all
of
you
who
show
up
I
think
it
was
Woody
Allen
who
said
ninety
percent
of
what
you
do
is
about
showing
up,
so
we
thank
you
very,
very
much
or
for
showing
up.
Lastly,
let
me
remind
you
that
all
of
us
should
have
visited
the
african
american
history
museum,
which
is
located
where
and
Councilman
squirrels
district.
B
Thank
you.
Thank
you.
So
much
Councilwoman
good
afternoon.
Everybody
thank
you
for
being
here.
A
Councilwoman
I
want
to
thank
you
so
much
for
your
continued
presence.
As
you
relates
to
bringing
out
articles,
I
was
just
telling
councilman
hien
and
I'm,
not
nearly
cultured
enough,
so
I
got
to
hang
around
you
a
little
more,
but
I
want
to
thank
you
and
thank
the
folks
from
the
art
sanctuary
and
the
leadership
of
counsel
for
putting
on
the
5th
annual
African
American
History
Month
celebration
is
genuinely
a
pleasure.
B
It
is
very
important
because
the
old
saying
is
it's
difficult
to
know
where
you're
going
to
go.
If
you
don't
know
where
you've
been
so,
history
is
one
of
the
most
significant
aspects
of
what
we
need
to
do,
particularly
in
a
case
where
a
people
as
relates
African
Americans,
whose
history
was
Eva
shadow,
whose
history
will
whatever
reason
for
whatever
reason
was
altered.
So
I
want
to.
Thank
you
so
much
I
want
to
thank
you
so
much
any
race
Councilwoman.
Thank
you.
So
just
wanted
to.
Thank
you
all
very
much
and
thank
you
again.
B
Councilwoman
am
I
ready
to
start
all
right.
So
start
here,
great
teacher
will
Councilwoman
final
Reynolds
Brown
history
is
not
a
straight
line,
but
a
rolling
will
is
perpetual
story
and
all
the
spokes
of
it
eventually
tied
together.
The
wheel
of
history
includes
the
story
of
black
women
who
join
forces
to
confront
the
indignities
and
the
inequities
of
their
time.
D
What
is
most
intriguing
about
these
courageous
women
is
not
that
they
suffered,
but
that
they
stayed
intact
yuben.
We
are
left
in
amazement
at
how
these
women
did
not
let
anything
destroy
them
or
their
spirits.
But
what
I
remain
in
constant
all
over
about
women
of
today
and
of
yesterday
is
how
they,
just
as
in
the
spiritual,
can
make
a
way
out
of
no
way.
E
We
need
the
Blackwall
we
had
come
come
to
register
to
vote.
It's
our
right
as
Americans
the
Constitution
says.
So
soon
a
bunch
of
white
fella
started.
Circling
the
courthouse
in
their
pickup
trucks,
white
men
did
not
usually
ride
around
town.
With
a
rack
of
guns,
you
might
have
seen
a
gun
when
a
person
was
going
out,
hunting,
deer
or
rabbits.
That
day
we
were
there.
Rabbits.
F
Pictures
were
flashing
through
my
mind
three
civil
rights
workers
who
had
gone
missing
just
the
week
before
Medgar
Evers
murdered
the
previous
summer,
shonda
back,
while
his
wife
and
little
children
watched
Emmett
Till
at
the
bottom
of
the
Tallahatchie
River.
With
a
con
gin
fan
tied
around
his
neck.
G
But
everything
came
together
for
me
the
day
those
white
men
with
guns
surrounded
me
at
the
courthouse,
I
could
taste
in
smell
reality.
These
white
men,
who
sometimes
even
smiled
and
smoke
and
spoke
to
me,
were
so
consumed
with
hatred
for
me
that
one
of
them
might
actually
kill
me
just
to
keep
me
from
registering
to
vote
if
our
first
small
step
to
freedom
registering
to
vote
threaten
white
folks.
That
much
I
knew
that
the
right
to
vote
must
be
a
powerful
thing.
G
E
Fannie
Lou
Hank
hammer
I,
went
to
the
church
and
they
talked
about
how
it
was
our
right
to
vote
that
sounded
interesting
enough
to
me
that
I
wanted
to
try
it.
The
only
thing
they
could
do
was
kill
me
and
it
seemed
like
they've
been
trying
to
do
that
a
little
bit
at
a
time
ever
since
I
could
remember
I.
H
A
Gloria
dickerson
chopping
cotton
left
me
sweaty
my
face,
often
salty
from
perspiration.
This
was
a
miserable
way
to
earn
a
living.
My
mama
wanted
a
better
life
for
all
of
her
children.
I
was
a
young
child.
My
mama's
words
ringing
in
my
ears
quote:
education
will
get
you
out
of
the
cotton
fields,
in
quote.
G
I
C
June
Elizabeth
Johnson
after
being
thrown
in
prison
at
the
age
of
14,
for
registering
people
to
vote
I,
don't
care
what
happens
to
me,
I'm
going
to
be
free
or
continue
to
be
part
of
a
struggle
to
fight
for
the
freedom
of
people
in
this
country.
I've
done
nothing
else
in
my
life
and
I
intend
to
do
that
for
the
rest
of
my
life.
J
Constance
Iona
slaughter,
Harvey
I
came
of
age
during
a
revolution,
a
bloody
and
painful
revolution
which
left
physical
and
spiritual
scars
on
a
generation
of
Americans.
My
revolution
was
the
civil
rights
movement
and
one
of
the
most
challenging
battlefields
was
the
University
of
Mississippi
School
of
Law,
where
I
later
became
the
first
african-american
female
law,
school
graduates.
I
K
I
did
journey
to
the
mountain
top
and
stick
my
flag
into
the
rocky
dirt
of
the
future.
I
had
to
climb
over
the
past
and
present
to
get
there
occasionally.
I
have
felt
that
we
have
nothing
before
us,
but
mostly
I
feel
now
that
we
have
everything
before
us
and
that
the
promised
land
of
social
justice
is
a
real
place
that
will
one
day
be
reached
rather
than
a
hollow
ideal,
for
which
so
many
have
sacrificed.
So
much.
A
Not
all
of
life
is
already
written
down,
there's
still
so
many
stories
to
be
told.
We
hope
that
this
is
simply
a
snapshot
of
the
pieces
from
this
beautiful
book
eloquently
written
pieces
from
the
past,
a
gift
to
all
of
our
colleagues,
voices
of
heroic
women
and
civil
rights,
and
we're
pleased
to
say
that
the
authors
of
this
monumental
piece
I
have
so
much
admiration
for
authors,
Joan
Sadoff.
If
he
would
please
rise
and
Robert
say
it
off,
Linda
Needleman,
we
were
told
that
you
were
able
to
join
us
this
afternoon.
A
L
Good
afternoon,
everyone
thank
you
all
council
people
for
reading
these
beautiful
words
that
came
from
women,
black
and
white
women
from
Mississippi
in
the
1960s
who,
together
and
individually,
pushed
the
civil
rights
movement
forward
and
save
for
fannie
lou
hamer.
We
had
never
heard
of
any
of
these
women,
and
yet
these
women
we
stand
on
all
of
their
shoulders.
L
Everyone
in
this
room,
regardless
of
your
your
ethnicity,
regardless
of
your
your
country
of
origin,
regardless
of
your
religion,
we
stand
on
their
shoulders
and
every
day
in
Philadelphia,
there
are
groups
of
students
in
some
of
the
most
under-resourced
schools
who
are
learning
about
these
women
who
are
learning
about
the
civil
rights
movement.
They
are
reading
that
same
book,
they're,
responding
using
art.
We
teach
the
civil
rights
movement
at
our
sanctuary,
embedded
in
English
and
history
classes
in
using
the
Arts
and
we're
so
grateful
for
all
of
you.
L
L
Thank
you
all
sorry,
one
more
thing:
I
forgot,
my
dear
friends,
and
we
did
just
say
thank
you
to
to
Joan,
sadoff
and
lindell
need
Linda
Needleman.
They
did
provide
a
copy
for
the
book
of
the
book
to
every
council
person
and
they
also
provide
a
book
for
every
child
that
we
work
with
through
art
sanctuary
so
that
child
can
take
that
book
home
and
learn
about
their
history
and
share
with
their
families
and
communities.
So
thank
you
both.
A
M
Hi,
my
name
is
Jada
Hepburn
I
go
to
the
Academy
and
Notre
Dame,
it's
in
Villanova
I'm
in
the
10th
grade,
and
a
funny
thing
about
public
speaking
is
when
you're
sitting
down.
You
don't
see
everyone's
eyes
like
this,
so
that's
right
right,
so
I
was
asked
to
write
a
poem
and
I
usually
write
short
stories,
but
I
tried
my
best.
Thank
you
now.
This
is
called
the
huddled
masses
screaming
on
the
right
side
of
history.
Now
I'm,
not
one
to
scream,
not
one
to
cause
trouble
to
howl
it
full
moons
and
raise
hell.
M
Oh
bury
myself
in
my
books.
Thank
you,
I'll
rewatch,
Lord
of
the
Rings
again
I'd,
rather
not
get
into
any
debates,
but
watching
them
is
fun.
With
the
lying
Ted's
in
the
trumped-up
economics
and
sleepy
ben
Carson,
though
I
missed
a
hundred
rallies
I
never
went
in
saw
speech
because
what
they
were
saying
I
already
knew,
and
there
was
nothing
left
to
teach.
I
knew
about
the
money
that
lived
on
Capitol
Hill
I
knew
about
the
brutality
from
Trayvon
to
Emmett,
Till
and
solution
after
solution
and
proposition
after
lie.
M
I'm,
certainly
not
three-fifths
of
a
person,
and
my
parents
may
not
have
been
born
on
these
shores.
But
why
is
it
when
I
say
blank
lives
matter?
You
think
it
matters
more
than
yours.
That's
why?
When
I
woke
up
that
November
morning,
I
crushed
I
clutched
a
rosary
and
said
a
prayer
and
I
looked
at
the
TV
and
disbelief
and
wondered
what
had
happened
here.
M
We
were
doing
so
great
and
going
so
far,
even
though
Barack
in
the
family
were
leaving,
so
why,
in
those
days
after
the
news
broke,
did
the
whole
nation
feel
like
grieving,
because
it
felt
like
a
death
with
no
funeral.
It
felt
like
the
passing
of
a
child
and
days
came
to
pass
and
a
week
and
a
month
or
two,
whilst
the
whole
country
was
still
in
denial,
Russia
the
Electoral
College.
M
We
still
don't
know
who
did
it,
but
we
looked
and
looked
for
someone
to
blame
because
the
world
grew
dark
and
uncertain
and
cold
before
we
would
be
delivered
into
hell's
flames.
Now
I
was
angry,
but
I
never
cried
and
my
whole
body
still
feels
empty.
So
when
I
got
on
the
bus
that
damn
Sunday
morning,
I
drew
and
went
for
three
hours
to
DC
I,
don't
know
what
I
was
expecting.
I
was
never
one
to
fight
much
less
than
a
pink
hat
with
ears,
but
in
the
tide
of
the
huddled
masses
there
was
passion.
M
There
was
no
fear.
Now
they
held
their
signs
and
their
babies
alike
and
some
came
and
strollers
and
in
chairs
and
together
we
move
like
one
body
down
the
street
right
into
the
devil's
lair.
We
will
not
be
moved.
Climate
change
is
NOT
a
hoax,
my
body,
my
rights.
We
welcome
the
refugees,
battle,
cries
and
chantings,
but
to
me
your
poetry,
because
this
is
what
democracy
looks
like
kid:
knowing
gender
and
color
and
Creed
whether
the
earth
is
too
hot,
salary
is
too
small.
M
We
yelled
and
we
walked
like
a
people
longing
to
be
freed
and
we
walked
us
huddled
masses
to
make
sure
we
wouldn't
be
ignored
because
he'll,
it
truly
hath,
no
fury
like
some
Patriots
when
scorned
I
got
home
late
a
little
after
ten
watch
the
news,
because
I
refused
to
sleep
500,000
alone
in
Washington's,
at
CNN,
united
against
demagoguery,
because
this
country
belonged
to
us
and
we
would
take
it
back
from
the
alt
rights
and
the
bigots.
We
wouldn't
tolerate
such
an
attack.
What
little
rights
we
had?
M
We
would
cling
to
them
and
fight
for
those.
Yet
to
come
for
knowing
that,
if
you
were
to
ever
stop
fighting
the
bigotry
and
the
hatred
would
have
one
innovative
like
mrs.
Curie
shooting
for
the
stars
like
miss
Jameson,
powerful,
like
Venus
and
Serena,
and
fearless
like
miss
Tubman
unapologetic
as
miss
Roosevelt
compassionate,
like
miss
Tina,
resilient
ostrich,
owner
and
revolutionary
as
destroyers,
we
run
bought
a
nun
bossed
like
Miss
Chism,
defying
everything
like
Miss
humpin,
strong
and
graceful
like
mrs.
Obama
and
nasty
like
miss
Clinton,
fed
up
like
Marsha
and
the
Queen's
at
Stonewall.
M
So
we
march,
like
dr.
King
and
in
those
huddled
masses
on
that,
damn
Saturday
I
felt
as
if
they
carried
me
struggles
of
those
living
and
dead,
their
persistence,
their
patients,
their
pride
screaming
with
those
huddled
masses
assuring
the
future
would
be
bright
because
the
revolution
never
really
ended.
It
simply
changed.
M
A
Very,
very,
very
much
no
program
is
complete
without
music
and
song,
and
so
we
have
these
young
people
that
we
had
a
chance
to
listen
to
in
December,
who
are
fabulous
and
with
enormous
Tyler
want
to
ask
them
to
move
forward
quickly
so
that
we
can
move
to
this
portion
of
the
program
and
then
we'll
close
with
annual
video
of
lift
every
voice
and
sing.
The
test
is
for
you
to
be
able
to
identify
all
of
those
personalities.
You'll
see
in
the
video
is
an
enormous
prize
afterwards.
Thank
you
very
much.