Octavia McBride-Ahebee: Then and Now: West Philadelphia Honors Dr. King and the Black Bottom by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

Friday, August 1, 2025

Then and Now: West Philadelphia Honors Dr. King and the Black Bottom by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

There’s so much to love about living in Mantua, West Powelton, and Powelton Village. These West Philadelphia neighborhoods are not only rich in history, but they’re full of people actively preserving and celebrating it.

This Sunday, August 3, 2025, marks the 60th anniversary of a powerful moment in that history. On August 3, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a landmark speech at 40th and Lancaster Avenue during his “Freedom Now” tour. Speaking to a crowd of over 10,000 people, Dr. King called for racial justice and an end to segregation in the North.

image: Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center. Temple University Libraries. Philadelphia, PA

Martin Luther King Jr. at 40th and Lancaster streets in Philadelphia, 1965.

Today, that moment is honored at the very intersection of 40th and Lancaster with a mural, a historical marker, and a striking bronze bust of Dr. King created by West Philadelphia native and third-generation African-American sculptor Rebecca Rose.

In commemoration of this monumental visit, the community will host a vibrant celebration on Sunday, August 3, 2025. Planned in partnership with community leaders, institutions, businesses, and grassroots organizations, this commemorative event will take place at 40th & Haverford and throughout the surrounding Black Bottom neighborhood.

From 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, the day will feature a rich lineup of programming, including live performances, spoken word, storytelling, wellness services, free classes, food trucks, and a historical guide tracing Dr. King’s 1965 route through the neighborhood.

Highlights of the day include:

“Then & Now” Photo Installation showcasing legacy Black Bottom residents
Oral History Booths in collaboration with Scribe Video Center
Artist Showcases featuring civil rights–inspired works and MLK tributes
Wellness Stations offering hair and scalp exams, medical screenings, and emergency preparedness resources
Street Activation with food trucks, youth activities, storefront exhibits, and community resource tables
Jantra Morris is organizing a children's book fair as well. If you'd like to support the Children's Book Fair as part of this commemorative event, please reach out to Jantra Morris via her Facebook page for details on how to donate books.

Dr. King’s 1965 visit also included stops at Girard College, where he joined Cecil B. Moore ( pictured in King Mural) and other civil rights leaders to demand desegregation, and at The Baptist Temple (now Temple Performing Arts Center), where he addressed the urgent housing crisis rooted in segregation.

This event is not just a remembrance. It's a celebration of resilience, community power, and the enduring legacy of the Civil Rights Movement in West Philadelphia.

1 comment:

Jantra MorrisAugust 1, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Octavia, your powerful words speak to the heart of what the West Philadelphia community represents. Thank you for acknowledging what we do everyday, every year to uplift our children to achieve their full potential. You are appreciated 💚.
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What's being said about Where My Birthmark Dances ?

The Ancient Romans used to call a person's creative spirit her "genius," and recognized the labor of setting it free as one of love and sacrifice. Octavia McBride-Ahebee's latest collection is just such a labor. Her poems depict human longing, love and dignity in the context of global inequality with fierce, uncompromising grace. As her characters speak, she creates indelible sensory images of loveliness and affection, profound misery and anger, letting each co-exist on the page. The resulting complexity of tone makes space for nuanced and compelling human voices that might otherwise be categorized as "victims" or "villains" of oppression. It takes the full use of genius to notice and capture these contradictions, and a deep social conscience to care so passionately about writing them down. This collection is one of McBride-Ahebee's "bighearted magnolia trees," its trunk scarred by the fire of sacrifice, its blossoms and branches so beautiful you don't want to leave their shade.

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Octavia McBride-Ahebee

Words without Borders; The Home of International Literature

Friday, August 1, 2025

Then and Now: West Philadelphia Honors Dr. King and the Black Bottom by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

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