AMERICA AT 250 – A BLACK RETROSPECTIVE
1926-1975“ A White Man’ s War, A Black Man’ s Fight”
By BENJAMIN A. DAVIS
It was 10:05 p. m. on the night of May 31, 1926, when the wife of Philadelphia Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick threw the switch to light the 80-foot-tall replica of the Liberty Bell that straddled the Broad Street entrance to America’ s 150th anniversary celebration.
A sudden burst of electricity lit up 26,000 light bulbs decorating the massive replica of the bronze bell, which had been rung on July 8, 1776, to mark the initial reading of the Declaration of Independence. The light it emitted stretched from the grounds of the International Sesquicentennial Exposition to Philadelphia’ s City Hall, three miles away.
Fifty years earlier Philadelphia hosted the nation’ s 100th anniversary party. And now, John Wanamaker – the only surviving member of that event’ s finance committee – was the catalyst for having the City of Brotherly Love again host a celebration of the nation’ s founding.
But, as before, the celebration was troubled by a problem as old as the nation itself – America’ s racial divide.
In the months leading up to the sesquicentennial’ s opening Blacks in Philadelphia complained about their lack of involvement in every aspect of the event’ s planning – from the opening day speakers to racially segregated rehearsals for members of the 5,000-member chorus that would perform at the exposition.
A week before the sesquicentennial opened its doors, Mayor Kendrick – who headed the planning committee – gave in to pressure from Philadelphia’ s Black leaders and asked A. Philip Randolph to speak at the opening ceremony.
“ I have the honor to invite you to be the Orator of the Day for the Negro Race of the World at the opening exercises of the Sesquicentennial Exposition,” Kendrick said in a hurriedly written letter to Randolph, who was editor of
24