Music, Art, Dance and Drama

By W. D. Palmer

How activists gave their lives and talents in music, art, dance, and drama to bring about social change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665536523

W. D. Palmer

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.

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MUSIC, ART, DANCE AND DRAMA

ABOUT

FREEDOM

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W.D. PALMER

© 2021 W.D. 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.

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views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6655-3651-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-3652-3 (e)

Published by AuthorHouse 09/30/2021

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Contents

Introduction

Walter D. Palmer Leadership School

Acknowledgement

Public Appeal

Acel Moore (1940-2016)

Alfie Pollitt (1943-)

Alice Coltrane (1937-2007)

Alice Walker (1944-)

Alvin Ailey (1931-1989)

Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

Arthur Hall (1934-2000)

Barbara Bullock (1938-)

Barbara Neely (1941-2020)

B.B. King (1925-2015)

bell hooks (1952-)

Ben Veeren (1946-)

Berry Gordy (1929-)

Bert Williams (1874-1922)

Bessie Smith (1894-1937)

Bill Cosby (1937-)

Billie Holiday (1915-1959)

Billy Daniels (1915-1988)

Billy Eckstine (1914-1993)

Billy Paul (1934-2016)

Bob Marley (1945-1981)

Bob Perkins (1933-)

Brock Peters (1927-2005)

Bunny Briggs (1922-2014)

Byard Lancaster (1942-2012)

Cab Calloway (1907-1994)

Canada Lee (1907-1952)

Carmen McRae (1920-1994)

Carole Byard (1941-2017)

Charles Fuller (1939-)

Chuck Green (1919-1997)

Chuck Stone (1924-2014)

Claude Lewis (1934-2017)

Claude McKay (1889-1948)

Count Basie (1904-1984)

Della Reese (1931-2017)

Dick Clark (1929-2012)

Dick Gregory (1932-2017)

Dinah Washington (1924-1963)

Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993)

Doc Gibbs

Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965)

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008)

Ed Bradley (1941-2006)

Edie Huggins (1935-2008)

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

Elmer Smith

Eubie Blake (1887-1983)

Fats Waller (1904-1943)

Geoffrey Holder (1930-2014)

George Kirby (1923-1995)

Georgie Woods (1927-2005)

Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011)

Gregory Hines (1946-2003)

Grover Washington Jr. (1943-1999)

Harrison Ridley Jr. (1938-2009)

Harry Belafonte (1927-)

Hazel Scott (1920-1981)

Howard Fuller (1941-)

Hugh Masakela (1939-2018)

James Baldwin (1924-1987)

James DePriest (1936-2013)

James Earl Jones (1931-)

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)

Jan Horne

Joan Myers Brown (1931-)

Joe Rainey (1901-1992)

John Coltrane (1926-1967)

Johnny Mathis (1935-)

John Edgar Wideman (1941-)

Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

Juan Hernández (1896-1970)

Judith Jamison (1943-)

Katherine Dunham (1909-2006)

Kofi Asante

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Larry Neal (1937-1981)

Larry Steele (1913-1980)

Laurence Fishburne (1961-)

LaVaughn Robinson (1927-2008)

Lee Morgan (1938-1972)

Lena Horne (1917-2010)

Leontyne Price (1927-)

Lewis Michaux (1895-1976)

Linda Goss (1947-)

Lionel Hampton (1908-2002)

Little Richard (1932-2020)

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)

Louise Beavers (1900-1962)

Malcolm Poindexter (1925-2010)

Ma Rainey (1886-1939)

Marian Anderson (1897-1993)

Mary Mason

Matt Robinson (1937-2002)

Max Robinson (1939-1988)

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Miles Davis (1926-1991)

Mongo Santamaria (1917-2003)

Morgan Freeman (1937-)

Nat King Cole (1919-1965)

Nikki Giovanni (1943-)

Nina Simone (1933-2003)

Nipsey Russell (1924-2005)

Noble Sissle (1889-1975)

Oprah Winfrey (1954-)

Oscar Brown Jr. (1926-2005)

Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951)

Ozzie Davis (1917-2005)

Patti LaBelle (1944-)

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

Pearl Bailey (1918-1990)

Peg Leg Bates (1907-1998)

Quincy Jones (1933-)

Ray Charles (1930-2004)

Reggie Bryant (1941-2010)

Rex Ingram (1895-1969)

Richard Watson (1946-)

Richard Wright (1908-1960)

Robert Hooks (1937-)

Rogie Kenyatta

Roscoe Lee Browne (1922-2007)

Ruby Dee (1922-2014)

Rufus Harley (1936-2006)

Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990)

Sandman Sims (1917-2003)

Sarah Vaughn (1924-1990)

Sherman Hemsley (1938-2012)

Shuna Miah

Sidney Poitier (1927-)

Solomon Burke (1940-2010)

Sonia Sanchez (1934-)

Spike Lee (1957-)

Stevie Wonder (1950-)

Tito Puente (1923-2000)

Toni Morrison (1931-2019)

Tony Williams (1945-1997)

Tyler Perry (1969-)

W.C. Handy (1873-1958)

William Warfield (1920-2002)

Woody Woodland

About the Artist

A Brief Biography of Professor Walter Palmer

W.D. Palmer Foundation Hashtags

Introduction

Music, Art, Dance and Drama documents the lives and legacies of over 100 figures who have used their creative skills to further social change. This book was directed by Walter D. Palmer of the University of Pennsylvania, founder of the Palmer Foundation, who chose these figures based on either personal connection (as indicated by a comment from him) or inspiration. The concept was carried out by portrait artist Cavin Jones and student interns at the University of Pennsylvania. It is intended as a coffee table book that will carry forward the inspiration from these figures and honor their lives and legacies.

This book is part of a larger series documenting the lives of national and international figures. Each book in the series contains portrait artwork by Cavin Jones accompanied by short biographies. To see more books in this series, visit www.thewdpalmerfoundation.org.

The Palmer Foundation, founded in 1955, is a 501(c)3 certified organization that has spent over 65 years developing educational curriculum and learning materials for children, their parents, and teachers across the country. It works with children from preschool to high school with a focus on leadership, self-development, and social awareness.

Walter D. Palmer Leadership School

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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 kindergarten 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.

Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge from the beginning of the Palmer Foundation, 1955, the many contributors who helped to gather information, organize, and write the leadership, self-development, and social awareness curricula.

From the Foundation’s inception, these contributors have been composed of community members, elementary, middle- and high-school students, as well as college student volunteers and interns, along with professional contributors.

We chose this method and process because it was consistent with our history, vision, philosophy, mission, and goals of always developing leadership in practice.

These groups, who have helped to produce our materials, are the same cohorts who over the years have helped to teach and train others as well as helped to develop a national database through which these curriculum and training materials can be distributed.

The story of the Palmer Foundation is one of building community and leadership at the same time, and the Palmer Foundation wants to give an enthusiastic endorsement in recognition of the thousands of people who have been with us on this long and arduous journey.

We want to thank the many community leaders and people that have invited us into their communities to help them reclaim and restore the many values, properties, and people who may have been threatened with the loss of finance, property, and life, because they are the true heroes and heroines that made the W.D. Palmer Foundation the success that it has become.

Public Appeal

The Palmer Foundation is a federal 501(c)(3) organization that has spent over 65 years educating and fighting for social justice in the most underserved at-risk communities around the country. Our goals have always been to use education for human liberation and encourage at-risk families and children to help gather, write, produce, publish, and teach others in a similar situation.

Our mission is to disseminate our leadership, self-development, social justice, and grassroots-organizing books, manuals, and learning materials across America and around the world.

Our goals are to sell these publications or to offer them in exchange for a suggested tax-exempt donation that would allow us to continue producing our leadership training, as well as grassroots community and political organizing efforts.

Ultimately, we would like to create a satellite school as a model or prototype of the Walter D. Palmer Leadership School that could be replicated around the world, and we appeal for your enthusiastic and sustained support going forward.

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Acel Moore (1940-2016)

Acel Moore was born to Jerry Acel Moore and Hura Mae Gordon on October 5, 1940, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Moore joined the Philadelphia Inquirer as a copy clerk in 1962. In 1964, he became an editorial clerk, and from 1968 to 1981 he worked as a staff writer. In 1970, Moore won the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Scale of Justice Award for his series on the juvenile court system. In 1974, he co-hosted a television show called Black Perspectives on the News on Philadelphia’s WHYY public television. In 1977, Moore won the Pulitzer Prize for local investigative reporting for his series on abuse of inmates at Fairview State Hospital.

During the 1980s, Moore taught at the University of California at Berkeley, Temple University, and Florida A&M University. He also lectured at several colleges and universities around the country. Throughout this period, he wrote prolifically and directed recruitment, training, and staff development for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was associate editor and a member of the editorial board. Moore was a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and established the Art Peters Fellowship Program, a copy editor internship that launched the careers of over 50 minority journalists. He also created the Journalism Career Development Workshop, which trained dozens of Philadelphia high school students. Moore retired from the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2005, after 40 years in their employment. After his retirement, he continued to speak on various occasions and to write. Moore died on February 12, 2016.

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Connection to Walter D. Palmer

I met Acel Moore in the 1960s, when he was writing for a couple of newspapers--the Inquirer and the Daily News. He was one of a number of reporters that I worked with trying to create a Black media group during the Black Power Movement. We were trying to develop people who were sensitive to the Black experience and the fight for Black liberation.

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Alfie Pollitt (1943-)

Alfred Alfie Pollitt was born in 1943 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. His mother was a steadfast advocate of African-American history and an organizer in her community at Saints Memorial Baptist Church; his father was a worker and a fine arts musician. As a child, Pollitt made trips to nearby Philadelphia during the height of the Black Freedom Movement and to visit the Uptown Theater in North Philadelphia, which hosted musicians such as Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Michael Jackson. Pollitt was also inspired by Malcolm X and Muhammed Ali, and in 1970 he joined the Nation of Islam.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Pollitt traveled with Teddy Pendergrass and the Blue Notes across the country as a pianist. On these tours, they opened for the likes of Marvin Gaye and The Isley Brothers. Later, Pollitt represented Philadelphia at the Festin Third International Music Festival in Brazil in 1993 and at the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival in Jamaica in 1995. Besides being a musician, Pollitt is known as a teacher and mentor to many musicians and others in his community.

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Connection to Walter D. Palmer

Alfie Pollitt is a great musician. I knew him in the 1960s, when he was a pianist for Billy Paul. Billy Paul was a singer and activist; most people knew him from the song Me and Mrs. Jones. But our relationship goes all the way back, to when Billy used to sing at the Royal Theater, where he was featured each week as an adolescent and referred to as Little Billy Paul. But our relationship extended and Alfie became his pianist. During the height of the Black Power Movement in the 1960s, Alfie joined with a childhood friend of mine, Alvin Martin, his wife and his daughter, and they put together what was known as The Original Slaves. They would sing original slave songs, and that was their contribution to the movement. And they were widely accepted, locally and nationally, and continued on until the 1970s or 80s.

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Alice Coltrane (1937-2007)

Alice Coltrane was born Alice McLeod on August 27, 1937, in Detroit, Michigan. Coltrane grew up in a musical household: her mother was a member of the choir at her church, and her half-brother became a jazz bassist. Coltrane’s own interest in music showed at an early age. By the time she was 9, she played organ during church services.

Coltrane