Resolution 241137

..Title Also naming the 3900 block of Haverford Avenue between Lancaster Avenue and 40th Street, "Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Triangle" to commemorate the location of his 1965 Freedom Now Rally. ..Body WHEREAS, Dr. King gave a speech in Philadelphia on August 3,1965, days before the signage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to a crowd of 10,000 people at the intersection of 40th and Lancaster Avenue during his Freedom Now Rally; and WHEREAS, In a wave of success following the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Dr. King continued to galvanize Black Americans through his Freedom Now rallies in the cities of Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, and Philadelphia; and WHEREAS, In the years since, this location has been celebrated with a historical marker erected by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission in 2010 and the "MLK Freedom Now" mural, which was restored and rededicated by Mural Arts in November 2024; and WHEREAS, The site will forever be remembered for its special place in Civil Rights history; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the 3900 block of Haverford Avenue between Lancaster Avenue and 40th Street also be named "Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Triangle" to commemorate the location of his 1965 Freedom Now Rally. ..End