Kari Cobham

Director of Fellowships

Published

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From a corner house in West Philadelphia, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s great-niece Queen Mother Falaka Fattah has brokered peace among warring gangs, offered at-risk youth a safe haven and won awards for her stories in the local Black press.

Fattah’s work — her fierce activism, mentorship and community upliftment — carries forward the legacy of Harper, who lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries just six miles from Fattah’s neighborhood refuge .

The 19th named its fellowship program after Harper, who is known as “the mother of African-American journalism” and who fought for rights she never lived to see.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one .

Born 200 years ago today, Harper was

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