#willishumphrey

One of the nation's most influential black leaders, minister, educator, writer and former slave Richard Allen taught himself to read and write and in 1794 founded the African Church in Philadelphia. In 1816 Allen united five African American congregations of the Methodist Church, founding the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and In July, 2016 the city and Philadelphia's @MuralArts program celebrated the bicentennial with this stunning new Willis Humphrey, aka Nomo, mural on N 38th St at the First Episcopal District Headquarters. A beloved muralist and one of the city's leading portrait artists, Philadelphia was shocked to hear of Nomo's passing two years later from a heart attack. Nomo was only 44 and the father of three teens and he leaves behind an impressive body of work reflecting a stylistic diversity matched by few.  @willisnomo/

This 2008 mural by Willis Humphrey, aka Willis Nomo, at South and 6th Streets is on the side of Engine 11 fire station, and near the southeast corner of Philadelphia’s old Seventh Ward, and tells two tales of the long road to integration. At the west end of the wall sits W.E.B. Du Bois. In 1896 he went door to door across the city’s oldest African American community, interviewing black households and mapping how race, occupation, and lifestyle were distributed. In 1899 Du Bois published “The Philadelphia Negro,” advocating integration and challenging many stereotypes of the day with his research. The east end of the wall is dedicated to three firefighters who lost their lives in 1991, and remembers another major milestone: In 1919, long before fire station was ultimately desegregated in 1952, Engine 11 was the first station in which African Americans were allowed to serve.  @willisnomo  @muralarts