Written by Safaya Smallwood

_{A bust and mural of Martin Luther King, Jr. commemorating the Freedom Now Rally.}

Located on 40th Street at the intersection of Lancaster Avenue and Haverford Avenue, this memorial commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Freedom Now” Rally on August 2nd and 3rd, 1965. The rally was part of a protest campaign tour Dr. King embarked upon with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in six major northern cities—Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.—spreading his message to the Black community, raising funds, and supporting local civil rights efforts. 

On the day of the rally, Dr. King addressed a crowd of 10,000 in West Philadelphia at this intersection of three roads, with the goal of empowering the formation of coalitions to address common concerns in the Black community. The rallying cry at the time for Philly activists was the fight to integrate Girard College. As he addressed the crowd, Dr. King powerfully proclaimed, “I come here from the front lines of the civil rights movement in the South to tell you, ‘You are somebody.’ Let us have a sense of somebodiness. Don’t let anybody make you think that you are not somebody.”

Although for many years the site stood as a forgotten memory of the magnetic 1965 rally, since 2009 annual celebrations of the legacy of Dr. King’s work have been held there. Leaders at these commemorative rallies have called out the ongoing issues of racial disparity facing both the West Philadelphia area and the city at large. For instance, the area surrounding the site has been facing rapid gentrification at the hands of developers and universities like Penn and Drexel, forcing many longtime residents, including many people of color, out. Neighborhood organizations and activists have been leading the effort to combat this, and preserving the legacy of Dr. King as well as the many other historically significant places and events in this area play a huge role in their work. 

The memorial was erected in 2010 by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission thanks to the tireless work of people like Mr. Joe Walker, who raised money to memorialize the historic site. It consists of a mural by Cliff Eubanks, a bronze bust of Dr. King by Rebecca Rose, and a PA Historical Marker commemorating the rally.

A historical marker commemorating the Freedom Now Rally.

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Bibliography

Brown, Jim. “55 Years Later, Freedom Now Rally Issues Still the Same.” 2020.

Bunch, Will. “50 Years Ago, MLK Rallied at Philly ‘Wall’.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. 2015. 

“Martin Luther King Mural and Monument.” Lonely Planet. 

“Martin Luther King’s Philadelphia Connections.” USHistory.org. 

Morfe, Don. “Freedom Now Rally.” The Historical Marker Database. 2015.

Williams, Mariam. “Neighborhood Organizations Partner to Put West Philadelphia History on the Map.” MARCH Rutgers University-Camden. 2017.