HAPPENING IN HARLEM
HARLEM COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
Fannie Pennington Now Has Her Way By Lil Nickelson
I
t was a bright and sunny last day of summer 2018 on Saturday, September 22nd, 2018 that family, friends and others gathered at 11 am on the North east corner of 123rd Street and Manhattan Avenue for the renaming and unveiling of the Fannie Pennington Way street. Folks gathered for the street renaming included a former neighbor, Bettie Malloy, who is 85 years old who met Fannie when she moved to Harlem in 1959 and Linda “Cookie” Jackson who was a former owner of the original Red Rooster. Bettie recalled how she was very friendly and helpful to her when she first arrived here from North Carolina. Cookie remembered how after church on Sundays she would work the children’s parties that were
Fannie Pennington
thrown at the original Red Rooster that was located on 138th Street and 7th Avenue (now Adam Clayton Powell
Jr., Blvd). Fannie Emma Pennington (February 1, 1914 – February 13, 2013) was an American activist, organizer, and fundraising coordinator for U.S. Congressional Representative (Harlem) Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’s Isaac Democratic Club and the Abyssinian Baptist Church A.C.P. Overseas Club. Fannie Emma Pennington was born on February 1st, 1914 in Macon, North Carolina. Her family moved to Harlem when she was in elementary school and they worshiped at Abyssinian Baptist Church, where she was baptized by Rev. Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. and she became a good friend to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Fannie’s dad often took her to see the colored musical comedy shows at the
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New sign up on street
People assembled for street renaming
Fannie Emma Pennington joined her ancestors on February 13th, 2013, 12 days after she turned 99 years old according to her grandson, Grant Harper Reid. When asked what his grandmother taught him he said, “To always have faith in the Lord because God will always take
care of you and have your back. I want people to remember that my grandmother was part of the unique fabric and tapestry of Harlem who took pride in our community. She and her friends brushed away their differences to fit together for civil rights and the right to vote.”
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Lafayette Theatre and in adulthood Fannie yearned to become a dancer on the stage and screen like her girlfriends, the Moses Sisters (Lucia Lynn, Ethel and Julia) and the McCormick Sisters (Pearl and Dolly) who were all professional dancers and actresses in films and Harlem clubs in the late 1920s. In the early 1930s she met and fell in love with married Harlem Renaissance director Leonard Harper, who was 15 years older than Fannie. Their romance produced Fannie’s only child, daughter Jean Harper. In the late 1940s, Fannie or “Miss P” as she was affectionately known, was a beautiful, elegant and popular bar maid at several clubs and bars in Harlem, including the original Red Rooster, the Palm Cafe and Tom Delaney’s Mirror Bar and she was often referred to as the “hostess with the mostest.” In 1958, Pennington stepped into the political arena, working on several fund-raising campaigns for Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and community organizations. Then there was the historic March on Washington in 1963, where she coordinated buses from New York to Washington D.C. in an effort led by Bayard Rustin. In 1960 she formed and supervised The Glamourettes a group of young women who campaigned for the John F. Kennedy Presidential run. Fannie was a member of the New York City Board of Elections and the Frederick E. Samuel Community Democratic Club, the Satellite Club, the Courtesy Guild, the Progressive Ladies Usher Board of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, the ABC Welcome and Hospitality Committee.
An E 17 Chur
Story and Ph