Lana Felton Ghee was another extraordinary African-American Queen who lived in Philadelphia and made a powerful positive difference while she lived.
Indeed, Lana Felton Ghee was “The Hat Lady” because she owned a very popular hat store on Girard Avenue for many years. Church ladies and fashionistas from all walks of life would come to Lana’s Hat Shop because they knew if they purchased a hat there, it would be of high quality, very tasteful, and one that you wouldn’t see twenty-five other ladies wearing. She was a businesswoman, an entrepreneur of the highest ranking.
She was also a Public Relations guru and handled many a very successful PR campaign for a variety of well-known local and national clients. For quite a few years, one of Lana Felton Ghee’s PR clients was the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity; of the many clients Lana Felton Ghee worked for over her years of operating her own public relations firm, probably the most important one was John Franklin Street. Many people give Lana Felton Ghee all the credit for helping John Street (not only) win once–but twice to be the Mayor of Philadelphia and Philadelphia’s second African American Mayor.
Lana Felton Ghee’s big break into special events planning and public relations came when she had an opportunity to work as part of a team for the Bicentennial Celebration for Philadelphia in 1976. She started her own events planning PR firm in 1995; it became a major success overnight. Lana Felton Ghee had created a reputation of being on point, very creative, very efficient, and very professional. Some people may have forgotten this, but it was Lana Felton Ghee who really spearheaded the Welcome America Festival before it was known as that it was called the Philadelphia Freedom Festival. Lana Felton Ghee’s political smarts and acumen had the likes of Bill Clinton and Al Gore courting her for her professional services.
Her son, Shedrick Felton, who many know as “Chief,” had an overflow of amazing memories about his mother, which tell more of her story. Shedrick said, “For me, I think when I first started to really understand the power of the work my mother was doing was around the time of the Charter Change in Philadelphia.”
There was a Charter Change in Philadelphia during Frank Rizzo’s tenure as Mayor. Facing Philadelphia’s two consecutive term limit, Rizzo sought to extend his time in office. He persuaded the Philadelphia City Council to place a Charter Change question on the ballot in 1978 that would have allowed him to run for a third consecutive term in 1979. However, this attempt was met with resistance.
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