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Also naming the 4300 block of Tower Street as “Josie D. Heard AMEC Way,” in honor of Josie D. Heard, to commemorate her legacy as an educator, author, hymnist, and as the namesake of the Josie D. Heard African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia.
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WHEREAS, Josephine Delephine Henderson-Heard was born in 1861 to enslaved parents Lafayette and Annie Henderson in Salisbury, North Carolina; and
WHEREAS, Josie was an educator who taught in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. She was passionate about inspiring youth and encouraging them to achieve their fullest potential; and
WHEREAS, Josie was a talented author and poet who wrote a collection of poems, Morning Glories, which included poems like Black Sampson, Sunshine After Cloud, and Love Letters. Building off her talents as a poet, she also became a talented hymnist; and
WHEREAS, Josie married William Henry Heard, the 35th Bishop of the African Methodist Church. Through her work helping her husband, she became the namesake of the “Josie D. Heard African Methodist Episcopal Church”; and
WHEREAS, Josie passed away on October 21, 1924 and is buried Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, In the early 1900’s, African American families came together to worship in various homes in the Roxborough Neighborhood of Philadelphia. In 1923, congregants in the home of Charles Lisby, Sr. formed the Josie D. Heard African Methodist Episcopal Church in Josie’s honor; and
WHEREAS, In the years since its founding, the congregation of the Josie D. Heard African Methodist Episcopal Church has served the communities of Roxborough and Manayunk, has continually grown, involved themselves in Outreach Ministries, and is the only African Methodist Church serving the Neighborhood of Roxborough; and
WHEREAS, Josie D. Heard’s dedication to teaching, encouraging, and inspiring young African Americans should be memorialized; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the legacy and dedicated service of Josie Heard to the Philadelphia religious community be memorialized and the 4300 block of Tower Street shall henceforth be known as “Josie D. Heard AMEC Way.”
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the congregation of the Josie D. Heard African Methodist Episcopal Church, as evidence of the sincere admiration and respect of this legislative body.
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