“They Helped Shape Philadelphia between 1950 and 2000”

WD Palmer

Description

For more than a hundred years, the entertainment industry has both struggled with and perpetuated the spectre of racism. At times, it has been guilty of portraying racist tropes or presenting employment barriers with little regard for how they extend the prejudices of society. In better moments, it has been in the forefront of breaking down barriers within society in an entertaining, thought-provoking, and pioneering way. So many of the impressions that we form come from the entertainment we consume. It is from the entertainment arts and media of each era that we learn about the prevailing attitudes toward racial minorities; it is also by way of the entertainment arts and media that we are able to educate and attempt to overturn these prejudices in the fight toward racial equality, openness, and inclusivity. Minority voices are still critically underrepresented in the world of mainstream media and entertainment. An open tent and positive portrayals of minorities in entertainment are vital to this fight.
Racism spreads like a virus with strains that develop and mutate throughout time, infecting everything that they come in contact with. Just as we have been continuously tested for coronavirus over the past year, we must check our biases regularly and be ready to correct any flaws we see in our journey toward eradicating the scourge of racism once and for all. Despite the progress that has been made, there is still a long way to go.
This book will share the research I have compiled for the Palmer Foundation on how race is portrayed historically in film and theatre, presenting examples of the successes and shortcomings that entertainment has added to the dialogue about race over the decades.

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Discrimination

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 30 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823010900
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

“THEY HELPED SHAPE PHILADELPHIA BETWEEN 1950 AND 2000”
 
ORAL HISTORIES OF PHILADELPHIA COMMU NITY ORGANIZERS AND COMMUNITY ADVOC ATES
 
VOLUME 1
 
 
 
WD PALMER
 
 
 
 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
© 2023 WD Palmer. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 06/30/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1083-2 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1090-0 (e)
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Credits
Walter D. Palmer Leadership School
About the Artist
The Mural Arts Project
A Brief Biography of Professor Walter Palmer
Disclaimer
Introduction
1. Thomas Anderson
2. Augustus Baxter
3. Louise Williams Bishop
4. Eugene Bivins
5. Lucien Blackwell
6. Judge John Braxton
7. Lynnette Brown
8. Reverend Dwight Campbell
9. John Churchville
10. Vivienne Crawford
11. Jim Davis
12. Shirley Dennis
13. Nelson Diaz
14. James Eberhardt. Jr.
15. Falakah Fattah
16. Tom Flemming
17. Terry Flores
18. George Gardiner
19. Vincent Gordon
20. Anthony Gray
21. John Green
22. Mary Halliday
23. Eleanor Jean Handley
24. Harold Haskins
25. Julius Hayes
26. Arthur James, Sr.
27. Richard James
28. Heshimu Jaramogi
29. Al Jasper
30. Andrew Jenkins
31. Terry Johnson
32. Tyrie Johnson
33. Curtis Jones Jr.
34. Veronica Joyner
35. Charles Kahm
36. Omjusisu Kentu
37. Oba Kernoodle
38. Bert Lancaster
39. Walter Lear J.
40. Jim Lester
41. Anthony Lewis
42. Claude Lewis
43. Louis Massiah
44. Thomas McGill L
45. Denise Mendoza
46. Robin Miller
47. Acel Moore
48. Mabel Morris
49. Angel Ortiz
50. Tom Palmer
51. Charles R. Patton
52. Robert Perkins
53. Steve Pina
54. Jessie Pincus
55. Malcolm Poindexter
56. Reginald Pollit
57. Ronald J. Pressley
58. Bilal A. Quayyun
59. Mike Reed
60. Tyron Reed
61. Jim Reed
62. Charles Reeves
63. Edward Robinson Jr.
64. James Robuck
65. Willy Rogers
66. Claude Ross
67. Phillys Rowden
68. Joe Saidel
69. Kenneth A. Salaam
70. Maurice Sampson
71. Ruth Seward
72. Rev. Lorenzo Shepard Jr.
73. Herb Showell
74. Michael Simmons
75. Randall Sims
76. John Skief
77. Horace Small
78. Larry Smallwood
79. Carol Smith
80. Elmer Smith
81. Roxie Smith
82. Norman Spencer
83. Sam Statton Jr.
84. William Story
85. Janet Stotland
86. Bennie Swans
87. Theresa Sylvester
88. Marilyn Tadlock
89. Ann Torragrossa
90. Virginia Trehern
91. Jerry Walker
92. Luther E. Weaver III
93. Cornell Webb
94. Dennis Wesley
95. William Wheeler
96. Beverly Williams
97. Charles Williams
98. Judy Wicks
99. Ralph Wynder
Bibliography
Credits
They Shaped Philadelphia
Between 1950-2000
Coordinator/ Cover La yout
Ashley Scott
Digitization/ Edi ting
Ashley Scott
Brianna Camero
Marisol Sanchez
Albert Valentino
Nicole Babiarz
Lydia Yoo
Walter D. Palmer Leadership School
 
 
Walter D. Palmer is the founder and director of The W. D. Palmer Foundation (est. 1955), a repository of information-gathering on racism in health, education, employment, housing, courts, prisons, higher education, military, government, politics, law, banking, insurance, and more.
He is also the founder of the Black People’s University of Philadelphia (1955) Freedom School, which was the grassroots organizing and training center for grassroots community and political leadership both in Philadelphia and nationally.
These organizations were run as nonprofit unincorporated associations from 1955 until 1980, when the W. D. Palmer Foundation received its 501(c)(3) federal tax exemption status.
W. D. Palmer has also been a professor, teaching American Racism at the University of Pennsylvania since the 1960s and today he is a member of the President’s Commission on 1619, the 400-year anniversary of African slavery in America.
Professor Palmer has been a social activist leading the fight against racial injustice for over 70 years in Philadelphia and around the nation. In 2018, Philadelphia honored him for the organizing work he did to reform the Philadelphia school system in 1967.
In 2020, Philadelphia honored him for 65 years of fighting for social justice throughout the country. In 1980, he led the fight for parental school choice which helped the Governor of Pennsylvania get a law passed in 1997, and in 2000 he created the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Charter School.
In 2005, he borrowed $11,000,000 to build a 55,000 square foot two-story building on two acres of land in North Philadelphia, which was donated to the school by the City of Philadelphia, and because of the school’s rapid growth, in 2010 he acquired the Saint Bartholomew Catholic High School for his middle and high school.
In 10 years, the school grew from 300 elementary and middle school students to 200 preschoolers and over 1,000 kindergartens to twelfth graders. In 2005, W. D. Palmer commissioned a muralist to paint over 400 pre-selected portraits on the school walls, corridors, and stairwells, with a goal to paint 30 15-foot murals in the gymnatorium.
Although the Walter D. Palmer Leadership School recruited at-risk children that were from 17 of the poorest zip codes in Philadelphia and 300% below poverty, the school boasted a 95% daily attendance, 100% high school graduation rate, and 100% postgraduate placement in four-year and two-year colleges, trade and technology schools, or military, until the school’s closing in 2015.
About the Artist
 
My Life in The Suns hine
Colored pencil, gouache, marker, collage on paper
34” x 26”
1987
Cavin Jones is a painter and muralist from Philadelphia. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the Tyler School of Art in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. He then went on to receive his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
He has a unique style, including collage, which he says allows him to distill his various ideas and interests into a single painting. Cavin sees his work as a way to stimulate dialogue about issues surrounding race and environmentalism. He has been featured in many prestigious collections and exhibitions. Cavin’s art is inspired by American history, environmental exploitation, and the African American experience.
The Mural Arts Project
The mural arts project was created by Professor Walter Palmer, then designed, drawn and painted on the walls of the institute between 2005 and 2014 by Philadelphia muralist Cavin Jones. The project, which has been described as a national and international treasure and a living museum of literacy, history, social studies and humanities through art, is unparalleled to anything like it in the nation or around the world.
A Brief Biography of Professor Walter Palmer
After a tumultuous juvenile life, Professor Palmer graduated from high school and was hired by the University of Pennsylvania hospital as a surgical attendant and was eventually recruited by the University of Pennsylvania School of Inhalation and Respiratory (Oxygen) Therapy.
After his certification as an inhalation and respiratory therapist, he was hired by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as the Director of the Department of Inhalation and Respiratory (Oxygen) Therapy, where he spent 10 years helping to develop the national field of cardiopulmonary therapy.
In 1955, Palmer created the Palmer Foundation and the Black People’s University of Philadelphia Freedom School and would spend the next 70 years developing leaders for social justice nationally.
Professor Palmer has also pursued further education at Temple University for Business Administration and Communications, Cheyney State University for a Teacher’s Degree in History and Secondary Education. And at age 40, acquired his juris doctorate in law from Howard University.
Between 1965 and 1995, he produced and hosted radio programs on Philadelphia WDAS, Atlantic City WUSS, and WFPG Radio, in addition to Philadelphia NBC TV 10 and New Jersey Suburban Cable Television.
In 2006, he was inducted into the Philadelphia College of Physicians as a Fellow for the body of work he had done over the past 70 years, after having spent ten (1980-1990) years as a licensed financial officer teaching poor people how to overcome poverty by saving and investing three dollars per day.
During that entire period, Professor Palmer led the Civil Rights, Black Power and Afrocentric movements in Philadelphia, around the country as well as the Caribbean and West Indies.
In the 1980s to 2015, he led the school choice movement, organized a state-wide parental school choice group which collected 500,000 petitions in 1997, which were used to create a charter and cy