In 2001-2002, Philadelphia filmmakers Ryan Saunders and Malkia Lydia produced a half-hour documentary in collaboration with local jazz icon Dottie Smith Gayle. Mother Dot's Philadelphia recorded conversations with several elder jazz musicians of the day, as well as informal performances, jam sessions and social gatherings. On Sunday nights, North Philadelphia's Barber's Hall was the gathering spot for many of Smith-Gayle's cohort and their stories helped revive the memory of the legendary postwar jazz scene along North Philly's Columbia Avenue (now Cecil B. Moore.) Over 20 years later as part of the North Philadelphia History Festival, the filmmakers present this four-channel video installation of excerpts from their raw analog tapes. The original Mother Dot's Philadelphia aired on WYBE's Philadelphia Stories, a series created by Executive Producer Hébert Peck. The film was also supported by the Leeway Foundation.

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In Pursuit of Preservation: A Community Conversation for our Black Historic District

The Dox Thrash House Project, Brewerytown-Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition, and Community Design Collaborative

 

Come together with neighbors, cultural stewards, and design thinkers for a panel discussion to explore how historic district recognition can reflect who we are, protect what we’ve built, and shape a future that honors our roots.

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My Story, My Block, Oral History Interviews with North Philadelphia Elders

Jacquline Wiggins

“My Story, My Block” is a series of North Philadelphia “elder” residents being interviewed by clock captains, community activists, and youth about life on the block.

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Tenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets, Video Installation/Oral History

Louis Massiah, Scribe Video Center

 

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CULTURAL WORKERS

Leslie Willis Lowry

Leslie Willis Lowry has worked in collections management as an archivist, researcher and consultant in several capacities, including special collections, exhibitions, films, television, publications and as liaison and consultant to many cultural institutions and religious organizations for over thirty years. Leslie has cataloged the work of individual photographers, photographic collections and groups of photographs that are part of an exhibition and publications; in addition to researching and planning for photographic exhibitions.

 

 

 

 

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William A. Dodd, DMD

 

William A. Dodd, DMD, a Black art aficionado, launched Art Around Gallery in 2003 as a platform to educate the public about the cultural impact of Black Art in Philadelphia and to highlight the brilliance of Black artists in history nationwide, while giving rise to new voices on the art scene. He specializes in historic African American art, including the pivotal work of the Philadelphia Pyramid Club (1941-1957), the only exhibition space owned, operated and controlled by Black Americans, and has served as the primary Pyramid Club researcher for the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University.

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The Dox Thrash House Project is a Black-led historic preservation initiative focused on restoring the former home of pioneering artist Dox Thrash and nominating the surrounding Sharswood neighborhood as a historic district. Backed by community leadership, the project trains residents in survey, documentation, and preservation practices to reclaim and protect their cultural heritage. It advances design justice and equity in the built environment through

 

 

 

 

 

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BSNC: Brewerytown-Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition is a resident-led community group of Brewerytown + Sharswood in North Philly. They organize and mobilize holistically to meet the needs and interests of neighbors, families, and each other. They also build allyship with fellow North Philly neighbors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Community Design Collaborative: Preserving Black Presence (PBP) is an initiative of the Community Design Collaborative, a nonprofit that partners with communities to shape equitable, thriving environments. PBP supports Black-led historic sites by providing technical assistance, preservation planning, and capacity-building resources. The initiative aims to address systemic inequities in preservation and ensure long-term sustainability for culturally significant spaces

 Michiko Quinones is the co-founder of 1838 Black Metropolis, a public history nonprofit dedicated to restoring lost or marveled Black narratives in Philadelphia. A public educator and historian, she was a docent for over a decade at both the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Rosenbach Museum. She holds a BA in African American Studies and Government from the University of Maryland-College Park (1992), an MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University (1999), and an ALM (MA) in Museum Studies from Harvard University (2024). Her work at 1838 Black Metropolis is part of a broader movement to reclaim historical narratives through Black social museums, which center memory and heritage as a foundation for reinterpreting the past. As part of this effort, she is studying how Black social museums worldwide are engaging in similar work to own and rewrite their historical narratives, ensuring that Black history is told with accuracy, depth, and community-driven insight.

 

 

 

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 Morgan Lloyd is an Afro-Indigenous public historian and cultural worker committed to a joyful and holistic recentering of Black, Brown, and American Indigenous histories, with a focus on the 18th and 19th centuries.She is the Co-founder and President of 1838 Black Metropolis, a research-driven nonprofit and National Park extension that explores the lives of the 18,768 free people of color living in Philadelphia when Harriet Tubman was just 16. Through storytelling, education, and public programming, the organization reclaims and reanimates forgotten histories from the region.Morgan’s work has earned wide recognition, including the Young Friends of the Preservation Alliance 2024 Award, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society's 2024 Award, The Library Company’s 2023 Biennial Innovation Award, and the Black Hero in Health Equity Award from Penn’s Pair Center. She’s held fellowships at institutions such as the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Her mission is to create spaces, programs, and art that connect Black and Brown communities with their pasts—and with expansive visions of the future. She currently serves on the Public Programming team at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.

 

 

 

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 Christopher R. Rogers, Ph.D is an educator and cultural worker from Chester, PA with more than a decade of experience in supporting justice-oriented arts, culture, and community in the Greater Philadelphia area. He currently co-coordinates the Friends of The Tanner House, incubating a revitalized Henry Ossawa Tanner House at the intersection of Black heritage preservation and community cultural organizing. As a Facilitator with the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition & Reconstruction, he supports aspiring movement leaders serving communities most impacted by poverty, policing, and mass incarceration.

 

 

 

 

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 Iris Brown is a remarkable woman dedicated to the rich exchange of culture, agriculture, and food, amplifying this diasporic connection between her Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia and her hometown of Loíza. In the early 1980s, Iris Brown co-founded Grupo Motivos, bringing together Puerto Rican women from different parts of Puerto Rico, united by the desire to use their surroundings to create beautiful spaces for their children and neighbors, ultimately converting abandoned lots into award-winning gardens and ancestral education sites.She is the visionary force behind the Norris Square Neighborhood Project gardens, including El Batey, Las Parcelas, the Butterfly Garden, Raíces, and Villa Africana Colobó.

 

 

 

 

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 Anula Shetty is an award-winning filmmaker and new media artist. She was an artist in residence at SEPTA transit, as part of Public Works a program of Forman Arts Initiative and Mural Arts. She is a recipient of a Pew Fellowship and a Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Fellowship. She received a Leeway Foundation Transformation Award for her art and social change work. Anula received her MFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University and serves on the board of the Alliance for Media Arts and Culture. She is a proud member of A-Doc, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Bitchitra Collective and is a co-director of the artist run video collective Termite TV. Her work has been screened at festivals and museums including MoMA, The Flaherty Film Seminar, National Museum of Women In the Arts and the Pacific Film Archive. Current projects include Cosmic Egg, a poetic documentary set against the surreal landscape of egg harvesting, transnational surrogacy and the desire for procreation.

 

 

 

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 Mike Kuetemeyer is an experimental documentary media artist and Associate Professor in the Film & Media Arts department at Temple University, whose work pushes the boundaries of immersive and socially engaged art. A recipient of both a Fulbright Scholar Award and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Kuetemeyer is also a co-founder and co-director of the Termite TV Collective, an artist-run non-profit dedicated to fostering experimental and activist media. Kuetemeyer's artistic exploration centers on socially engaged immersive media, utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to forge innovative, participatory art experiences with diverse communities.

 

 

 

 

 

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 Jacqueline Wiggins is a former long-term resident of North Central Philadelphia and now of Germantown. She is a retired educator who has over 40 years of experience as a classroom teacher of English/language arts and social studies in public, parochial, and charter schools. Also, she is a retired adjunct instructor of English for Community College of Philadelphia. She has been an administrator at two HBCUs-Historically Black Colleges and Universities, namely, Florida A& M University and Bennett College in institutional advancement/resource development/fundraising. At the University of Massachusetts and Mt. Holyoke College, she worked in residential housing and education. Jacqueline has resource development/fundraising experience working with many non-profit organizations. In 2014 and 2018, Jacqueline became an elected committee person for the 32nd Ward-11th Division in North Central Philadelphia. She is active with a group called Stadium Stompers focused on preventing a 35,000 seat football stadium from being built in a residential neighborhood by Temple University. As a docent/tour guide, she gives tours of the Johnson House Historic Site (An Underground Railroad National Historic Landmark). She is the founder of her enrichment program called Underground Railroad Camps for Children, Youth, and Families and her history tourism business, Wiggins Tours N More, LLC.

 

 

 

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