Harriet Tubman Statue By Any Means Necessary

The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy’s announcement that there will be an open Call for Artists for Philadelphia’s permanent Harriet Tubman statue struck the wrong chord. Public Art Director Marguerite Anglin said:

Yes, the open Call for Artists for this public art project will welcome proposals for a permanent statue that celebrates Harriet Tubman’s story or another African American’s contribution to our nation’s history. This will be a true open Call for Artists, where the City will be looking for a wide variety of original and unique ideas from many artists.

First, Harriet is sui generis. She cannot be replaced by a random African American historical figure. Second, the Managing Director’s public art policy directive establishes criteria for artwork placed on public property. The artwork must commemorate individuals who “made significant contributions to Philadelphia, have had significant impact on Philadelphia and beyond, and represent broadly shared community values.” In my op-ed published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, I wrote:

Representation matters, but when it comes to artwork on city property, who is represented matters. Anglin said that the city “will be looking for a wide variety of original and unique ideas from many artists.” But the city’s public art policy does not allow for that.

The short list of African American historical figures who meet the city’s public art policy includes Malcolm X. Like Harriet, Malcolm was prepared to use a firearm and any means necessary in his pursuit of freedom and racial justice.

Malcolm X, aka El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was a world-renowned human rights activist, racial justice advocate and cultural icon whose charismatic leadership laid the foundation for the growth of Sunni Islam among African Americans. Today, an estimated 200,000 Muslims live in Philadelphia, the majority of whom are Black.

Malcolm has been memorialized in books, movies, music, visual art, and a U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage Stamp.

In addition to Malcolm X Park and murals, Malcolm’s time in Philadelphia is commemorated with a state historical marker that notes his leadership of Nation of Islam Temple No. 12 in the 1950s. Will the City’s request for proposal include Malcolm X, “Our Black Shining Prince?” If not, why not?

John Coltrane House Family Feud Update

In the Before Times, I celebrated John Coltrane’s birthday (September 23, 1926) by leading a walking tour. We would meet at Coltrane’s Walk of Fame plaque where I would give an overview of the legendary saxophonist’s time in Philadelphia and talk about the John Coltrane House.

In light of the drama unfolding in the Court of Common Pleas, I am not in a celebratory mood. Coltrane’s sons, Ravi and Oran, are suing Norman Gadson’s daughters, Aminta and Hathor, for possession of the Philadelphia rowhouse that their father purchased in 1952 and where he composed Giant Steps.

They claim Mary Lyerly Alexander, better known as Cousin Mary, “duped” Gadson into buying property that she had no right to sell. Gadson paid $100,000 for the National Historic Landmark in 2004. That same year, John and Alice Coltrane’s house in Dix Hills, NY was at imminent risk of demolition.

On August 31, 2022, the third anniversary of Alexander’s death, Defendants allege in court filings that Cousin Mary “extinguished” Ravi and Oran’s remainder interest in the property with their knowledge and acquiescence. Defendants further claim that if they lose possession of the property, they should be reimbursed more than $220,000 for costs incurred in maintaining, renovating and insuring the Coltrane House. They claim “Plaintiffs would have no remainder interest were it not for the activities of Gadson and his successors.”

While the claims and counterclaims fly back and forth, I think about that hot and humid Saturday morning when something – or someone – told me to go check on the Coltrane House. Later that day, I learned Cousin Mary had died.

I vowed at Cousin Mary’s homecoming celebration that I would do everything I could to save the National Historic Landmark.

Little did I know my successful nomination of the John Coltrane House for listing on 2020 Pennsylvania At Risk would set in motion this family feud.

Ravi and Oran have cast aspersions on Cousin Mary. The court will decide who owns the Strawberry Mansion rowhouse. But for nearly 40 years, Cousin Mary devoted her life to preserving John Coltrane’s legacy in public memory. On July 6, 2004, she agreed to sell the property to Norman Gadson, a friend and jazz enthusiast who shared her vision for a Coltrane Museum and Cultural Center. Three months earlier, random Coltrane aficionados, preservationists and local officials saved from demolition Ravi and Oran’s childhood home in Dix Hills, NY. The place where their father composed A Love Supreme.

Philadelphia Mayor Reverses Course on Harriet Tubman Statue

Celebrated author and civil rights activist James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

In the face of community resistance to the award of a sole source contract to a white artist to create a permanent Harriet Tubman statue, Mayor Jim Kenney and the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) announced the City is taking a “new direction.” Kenney said:

Our Administration and OACCE have always been committed to public art that celebrates and showcases the stories of African American contributions to this country’s history while also developing or supporting various opportunities to increase the diversity of artists. In that spirit, it is important that we listen to the voices of those in the community and incorporate that feedback into our vision of commissioning this permanent statue. Opening the process to a Call for Artists is the appropriate next step as we begin telling the powerful stories of historic Black figures to all who visit City Hall.

As I told the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Mayor had to reverse course. Procurement opportunities must be advertised on the City’s website and open to all bidders. But the fight is not over. I have outstanding Right-To-Know Law (RTKL) requests with the Mayor’s Office, which includes OACCE, and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer.

The RTKL contact in the Mayor’s Office asked whether I am still seeking the records “in light of recent developments in the proposed project.” If so, they asked for an extension until September 14. My response: No problem. I can wait. One would think Kenney and OACCE would be eager to silence critics who question whether four million people “positively reacted” to the temporary Harriet Tubman statue that was on display at City Hall for three months during the dead of winter.

I hope the records shed light on why OACCE Director Kelly Lee continues to say “the City’s contracting process allows OACCE to directly commission public artwork.” I sought records related to her assertion from the three agencies that must approve non-competitively bid contracts. Both the City Solicitor and Finance Director wrote: “The City does not have records responsive to your request.” The Procurement Commissioner claims her office did not receive my email.

In any case, time is running out on the Kenney Administration (his term ends on January 1, 2024). It remains to be seen whether an RFP will be issued. If one is issued, we will demand the recusal of Kelly Lee and Public Art Director Marguerite Anglin from the review and selection process. They orchestrated the exclusion of Black artists from competing for a public commission for a statue of a Black icon. History tells us one cannot be part of the problem and the solution.

We also will demand the recusal of the Harriet Tubman Statue Advisory Committee. Silence equals complicity. With the exception of Cornelia Swinson, executive director of the Johnson House Historic Site, Committee members supported OACCE’s plan to give a white artist who has never won a public commission for a Harriet Tubman statue a $500,000 “direct commission.”

For updates on the open Call for Artists, sign up here.

John Coltrane House Family Feud

Scottish historian Sir Walter Scott observed, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”

Ownership of the John Coltrane House has been a tangled web ever since the property owner of record, Norman Gadson, died in 2007. I raised the “tangled title” issue with Ravi Coltrane on March 13, 2020. During the conference call, Ravi said organizations raising money in the name of John Coltrane need the permission of the Estate of John and Alice Coltrane. That “ties their hands unless there’s a partnership with the estate.” That was my first and only conversation with Coltrane’s son.

In a lawsuit filed on April 27, 2022, Ravi and his brother Oran allege they are the rightful owners of the Strawberry Mansion rowhome that their father bought in 1952. Coltrane and his first wife, Juanita “Naima” Austin, conveyed the property to his mother, Alice Gertrude Coltrane, on March 24, 1958.

Coltrane’s sons claim their father’s beloved cousin, Mary Lyerly Alexander, better known as Cousin Mary, “duped” (read: deceived) Gadson into paying $100,000 to purchase her life estate in the Coltrane House. According to Alice Gertrude Coltrane’s Last Will and Testament, Cousin Mary had “the right and privilege to live on the premises at 1511 North 33rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during her lifetime.” Her life estate ended on August 31, 2019.

My successful nomination of the Coltrane House for listing on 2020 Pennsylvania At Risk is cited in the Complaint and included in an exhibit, but I found out about the lawsuit by happenstance. The lawsuit was also a surprise to the defendants, Aminta Gadson Weldon and Hathor Gadson. A spokesperson for the defendants’ lawyer, Edward A. Fox, said in a statement:

The Early-Gadson family was enormously surprised and saddened to learn of the litigation filed by John Coltrane’s sons given the family’s 18-year history of ownership, preservation, and deep commitment to this National Historic Landmark, with the full knowledge of the Coltrane family.

The parties have clammed up. So I decided to follow the money to try to untangle the web of claims and counterclaims.

The John and Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, New York is owned and stewarded in partnership by the Town of Huntington and Friends of the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, a nonprofit organization. On September 21, 2021, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded Friends of the Coltrane Home a grant of $1 million “to support the preservation of the Home, enhance organizational capacity, and expand programmatic offerings.” In announcing the grant, the Mellon Foundation notes: “While the funds received from the Mellon Foundation will go a long way to renovating the Home and transforming it into an innovative museum, additional support will be needed before the Home can be opened to the public.”

The Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corporation (SMCDC) has raised $855,000 for the Coltrane House, including a $300,000 grant awarded under Pennsylvania’s Blight Remediation Program on May 25, 2021. The reimbursable grant is for “engineering and renovation costs associated with façade remediation activities at the Coltrane House Property.” The grant ends on June 30, 2023.

The Mellon Foundation awarded SMCDC $500,000 on December 10, 2021. The two-year grant is “to support organizational capacity and development for a community-focused project honoring the legacy of John Coltrane.” SMCDC needs an additional $5 million before the John Coltrane Museum and Cultural Arts Center can be opened to the public.

According to their IRS return, Friends of the Coltrane House received $18,100 in contributions in 2020. Between 2016 and 2020, the nonprofit received a combined total of $296,502 in contributions. Their 2013 Indiegogo and 2018 Kickstarter fundraisers were unsuccessful. Both campaigns closed after raising less than $9,000.

The O’Jays warned us that money can “do funny things to some people.” Ravi and Oran Coltrane’s lawsuit was filed four months after SMCDC received the Mellon Foundation grant. Defendants claim SMCDC has “five other grant applications pending.” Did money and the lack of permission from the Estate of John and Alice Coltrane trigger the lawsuit?

My lived experience tells me there’s more to the story. Stay tuned to “John Coltrane House Family Feud” as I follow the money.

Harriet Tubman Statue Update

Philadelphia’s plan to award a non-competitively bid commission for a Harriet Tubman statue has encountered fierce resistance (here and here). Celebrating the Legacy of Nana Harriet Tubman Committee sent an open letter to Mayor Jim Kenney requesting a meeting:

We write this letter to request a meeting with you; preferably one day this month. We will make ourselves available according to your schedule. We want. We are aware you are in support of this decision.

The Committee Celebrating the Legacy of Nana Harriet Tubman takes extreme exception to this decision announced by the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) to award a no bid commission (in the amount of $500,000) to create a permanent statue of Nana Harriet to Wesley Wofford, where an Open Call Process was not considered. Such actions prevent other artists from the opportunity to compete for a contract/commission especially for such an iconic, historical, and culturally important figure as Nana Harriet Tubman!

Our research shows that the OACCE has awarded one non-competitively bid commission to a performing artist to do a specific piece in 2017. The handful of non-bid contracts was awarded to conservation professionals. As one committee member has stated, “The community is fighting to ensure there’s not a second no bid-commission.”

Simply stated, as Philadelphia residents, we are being deprived of a free and open process to see other versions of Nana Harriet through the creative visioning of other artists, especially Black women and other People of Color. Our committee rejects this blatant disregard of protocol and nationally accepted best practices for public art procurement, coupled with the dismissal of community voices.

Mayor Kenney recently announced the African American Museum in Philadelphia will relocate to the former Family Court building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In a tweet, he said, “Looking forward to the proposals of the four chosen development teams who will reimagine the sites.”

While Mayor Kenney looks forward to the competing visions for the museum’s new home, Philadelphia residents are supposed to accept the vision of Kenney’s handpicked artist, Wesley Wofford, a white sculptor whose studio is located in the North Carolina Mountains. The Mayor and OACCE Executive Director Kelly Lee want to award a no-bid commission to Wofford to imagine a Black icon who was the most celebrated conductor of the Underground Railroad and Civil War hero.

The competitive procurement opportunity for the adaptive reuse of the Family Court building is managed by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC). The RFP affirms: “The City’s and PIDC’s primary objective in issuing this solicitation is to select a diverse, experienced, capable and qualified development team that will ultimately plan and implement a dynamic commercial development that significantly enhances and complements the existing cultural, commercial and residential developments along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and to maximize the value of the Property for the City.”

The focus on diversity and best qualified applicant begs the question: What is the primary objective in awarding a non-competitively bid commission to Wesley Wofford who is batting 0 for 23 on public commissions for Harriet Tubman statues?

Artic Records

Founded by WDAS program director and DJ Jimmy Bishop in 1964, Artic Records was a building block for “The Sound of Philadelphia.”

Future cofounder of Philadelphia International Records Kenny Gamble was a songwriter and producer for the record label, and recording artist with the group, Kenny Gamble and the Floaters.

In a 2013 interview, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gamble told WHYY:

That was like my training ground. It was like going to school. Experimenting. Jimmy Bishop used to let me work in the studio, work on the board.

Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates got his start at Arctic with the blue-eyed soul group the Temptones

A teenager from North Philly, Barbara Mason, wrote and recorded Artic’s best-selling record (Kenny Gamble was one of the backup singers).

Arctic released its last record in 1971. Around the same time, Jimmy Bishop disappeared, and to this day nobody knows whether he’s dead or alive.

The site of Artic Records is a stop on my walking tour, “North Broad Street: Then and Now.” We will take a stroll down North Broad in October 2022. To be added to the mailing list, send your contact info to greenbookphl@gmail.com.

Eyes on Pulitzer Prize for Duke Ellington

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” It’s past time for the Pulitzer Prize Board to do right by Duke Ellington and grant him the award he was denied in 1965. The New York Times reported on May 5, 1965.

Jazz historian and author Ted Gioia has launched an online petition for Duke Ellington to be granted the Pulitzer Prize in Music:

In 1965, the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Music recommended that jazz composer Duke Ellington receive the award in honor of his lifetime legacy of excellence. The Pulitzer Board denied the request, and decided to give no award in music that year rather than honor an African-American jazz composer. In the aftermath, two of the three jury members resigned in protest.

The time has come to rectify this unfortunate decision, and name Duke Ellington as the winner of the 1965 Pulitzer Prize in Music. The recent precedent of Jim Thorpe’s reinstatement as sole winner of the 1912 Olympic gold medals, taken from him 110 years ago, makes clear that even after many decades these wrongs can still be righted. Ellington was a deserving candidate back in 1965, and the significance of his legacy has become all the clearer with the passage of time. Giving him the 1965 prize is the right thing for Duke Ellington, the right thing for the Pulitzer, and the right thing for American music.

It’s never too late to right an egregious wrong. If you love Duke Ellington madly, keep your eyes on the Pulitzer Prize and sign the petition.

Journey to Freedom from White Privilege

At the height of the Black Power Movement, the Metropolitan Museum of Art mounted an exhibition, “Harlem on My Mind: The Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968,” that excluded paintings and sculptures by African American artists.

The exclusion caused an uproar in the Black community. Historian John Henrik Clark, a consultant for the exhibition, later withdrew in protest. Dr. Clark told The New York Times:

In the light of the vocal role played by blacks in the current social upheaval, it is shocking that [Museum Director Thomas] Hoving and [Exhibition Curator Allon] Schoener have remained sheltered from urban life. They continue to persist in a paternalistic approach to black people – one that demands that whites define and describe the black experience, about which they know nothing.

Fast forward to today, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and his appointee, Kelly Lee, executive director of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE), want to give a no-bid $500,000 commission to Wesley Wofford, creator of the traveling statue, Harriet Tubman: The Journey to Freedom. The commission would be for a new statue. Wofford has no unique insight into Harriet Tubman and knows nothing about Philadelphia, a city that is majority minority. His studio is located in the North Carolina Mountains.

The exclusion of Black artists has caused an uproar. OACCE’s plan to spoon-feed Wofford gives new meaning to “starving artist.” The data collected from the public survey “will help determine the theme and messaging of the permanent Harriet Tubman statue to make it unique to Philadelphia and inform the physical design and statue’s text.”

We are taking a page from the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition, a watchdog group whose members included Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden and Harlem residents. We are protesting the planned exclusion of Black, women and other underrepresented artists from competing for the Harriet Tubman commission. Much to their chagrin, Mayor Kenney and Kelly Lee cannot just give Wofford the commission. While professional services contracts are not subject to the lowest responsible bidder requirement of the Home Rule Charter, OACCE must follow the procurement process and post a non-competitively bid contract opportunity to the eContract Philly website. Applicants will have at least 15 days to submit a proposal. When the notice of “New Contract Opportunities” is posted, we will give the signal.

We will share the Request for Proposals on social media and via email. Established artists should be able to respond within the timeframe. We already know the location of the statue, City Hall’s North Apron, and some design elements, granite base and at least nine feet tall. The theme(s) will be announced once the public survey data are compiled. So start visualizing your design. By the way, don’t be concerned that submitting a proposal will jeopardize future opportunities with OACCE. Kelly Lee and Jim “I’ll be happy when I’m not mayor” Kenney are lame ducks. Kenney leaves office in January 2024.

For updates, join the Facebook group, Celebrating the Legacy of Nana Harriet Tubman Committee. If you’re not on Facebook, send your contact info to phillyjazzapp@gmail.com to be added to the Harriet Tubman Statue mailing list.

Standing Up for Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman, the most celebrated conductor on the Underground Railroad, is memorialized in countless dissertations, history books, novels, documentaries, artworks, songs, and movies.

According to the Monument Lab National Audit, Harriet is among the historical figures with the most public monuments. As of December 2021, there were 21 public memorials of Harriet in cities across the country.

A new statue of Harriet Tubman was unveiled on the grounds of Lincoln Park in Pomona, California on July 4, 2022.

Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) plans to award a no-bid commission to Wesley Wofford, creator of the touring statue, The Journey to Freedom, which was installed on the North apron of City Hall from January 11 to March 31, 2022.

OACCE recently held a public engagement session allegedly to “help inform the design of this statue.”

Public Art Director Marguerite Anglin said the lack of an open call was due to the “tremendous outpouring of love and pride for the Journey to Freedom statue.” Maisha Ongoza, a member of Celebrating the Legacy of Nana Harriet Tubman Committee, schooled Anglin and her boss, Chief Cultural Officer and OACCE Executive Director Kelly Lee:

I know the statue had a lot of emotions in people but I know a lot of artists who can generate that same level of emotion. That’s what artists do. … He [Wesley Wofford] doesn’t have a monopoly on being able to capture what people feel about Nana Harriet. Everyone feels her deeply that’s how important she is to us.

Ongoza and other community members protested the lack of transparency. The decision to award Wofford a no-bid commission was done without public input. Yet the public is expected to engage in “listening” sessions, surveys and other forums designed to pick their brain for free while an artist whose studio is located in a former Confederate state picks up a $500,000 check. Wofford brings nothing unique to the table. There is no reason the public feedback that OACCE plans to share with Wofford cannot be shared with other artists in an open call.

Kelly Lee dismissed concerns about denying Black and other artists an opportunity to participate. She said, “Our office has the ability to commission a specific artist to do a specific piece.” Since 2017, her office has awarded one non-competitively bid commission to a specific artist to do a specific piece.

The community is fighting to ensure there’s not a second no-bid commission. Ongoza told Lee: “Why can’t we have an open call process? We feel cheated that we can’t get a chance see what other artists could offer up for us. We’re just locked into what we’ve seen already when we know the potential of others is also just as great.”

Harriet Tubman made her escape from bondage under the cover of darkness. OACCE made its decision to hire Wesley Wofford under the cover of darkness. I am going to shine light on this “unique situation” by filing Right-to-Know-Law requests with OACCE and the Procurement Department. Kelly Lee wants the community to believe she can unilaterally award a non-competitively bid commission. She cannot. Sole source contracts must be approved in writing by the Procurement Commissioner, the Finance Director and the City Solicitor.

The struggle continues.

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

In an Independence Day speech to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society on July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass asked, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”

The world will come to Philadelphia in 2026 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In an op-ed published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, I wrote that rather than celebrate slaveholders (34 of the 56 Signers, including Thomas Jefferson, owned slaves), we should celebrate resistance to slavery as personified by Douglass.

The renowned orator’s presence in Philadelphia dates back to his escape from bondage. He arrived by steamboat from Wilmington in 1838. We can bring Frederick Douglass to life by staging public readings of his iconic speech at places and sites associated with the abolitionist, including Independence Hall, Mother Bethel AME Church, Concert Hall, the Union League of Philadelphia and Camp William Penn. Douglass was delivering a lecture at National Hall when the news came about John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry.

At the same time, we should heed the advice that Douglass gave a Black activist shortly before his death: “Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!” Agitation means we resist Philadelphia insiders who presume to tell us how the United States Semiquincentennial should be commemorated. We should follow the blueprint of the July 4th Coalition which, in 1976, rallied between 30,000 and 40,000 people to protest the lack of diversity in official celebrations and the whitewashing of history.

You can read my op-ed, “This July 4th, let’s honor Frederick Douglass and ‘agitate’” here.