Passing Down the Pen: 19th News Fellows Meet with Queen Mother Falaka Fattah

The 2025 19th Fellows meet with House of Umoja's Queen Mother Falaka Fattah in Philadelphia. Photos by Denise Clay-Murray.

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By Denise Clay-MurrayWhen she was a young girl, Queen Mother Falaka Fattah went to a camp meeting in Maryland with her family.
The camp meetings allowed the people who had migrated from the South to the North to visit with family and to savor such foods as sweet potato pie, potato salad, collard greens, and other foods that reminded them of home, Fattah said.
While at the meeting, she was approached by a woman who gave her some advice upon learning her name, Frances Ellen.
“She came up to me and said, ‘Don’t you disgrace that name, Francis Ellen!’ Fattah said. “Now, I don’t know that lady from Adam. But later on, when we got back home to Philadelphia, I told Mom what she said and asked her why, and [her mother] said she said that because that name is significant. That’s the first time I ever heard of Francis Ellen Watkins Harper or the connection.”
That was among the stories that Fattah shared with this year’s cohort of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper fellows. The year-long fellowship is sponsored by The 19th, an independent... READ MORE