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| Artist Jerry Lynn- Discover more of his work: https://artbyjerrylynn.com/ |
Dear Malcolm Burnley and Philadelphia Magazine:
When headlines suggest local forgetting of Black icons like Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, they can unintentionally obscure the ways Black communities preserve and transmit their own histories, often without validation from mainstream platforms. Framing his legacy as lost and rediscovered risks centering absence rather than continuity.
That headline carries a quiet erasure, even if unintended. It frames local Black memory as absence, and centers the outsider’s gaze instead of the community that has long honored Judge Higginbotham.
I read this piece on him with great appreciation for your desire to underscore his phenomenal achievements. His legacy is urgently needed in this moment of legal and moral reckoning.
But I need to strongly push back on the framing suggested by the title, particularly the implication that Philadelphia “forgot” him. For a significant portion of Black Philadelphia, Judge Higginbotham has never been forgotten. He is known and taught. He is spoken of with reverence. His legacy has lived not only in institutions, but in community memory, classrooms, churches, and family conversations.
I wonder what it might have offered to lead instead with celebration, to foreground his contributions and his courage, and why his jurisprudence and moral witness matter so profoundly right now without first positioning him as forgotten.
I share this in the spirit of dialogue and care for how our city, and especially its Black communities, are represented. I’m grateful for the attention you’ve brought to Judge Higginbotham and hope future conversations continue to honor both his national stature and his deeply rooted place in Philadelphia’s Black civic life.
Here is the link to the article : Philadelphia Magazine-Philadelphia Forgot A. Leon Higginbotham. America Can’t Afford To : https://www.phillymag.com/news/2026/01/30/a-leon-higginbotham-history/
