10 years later, a reprise of Million Woman March

Ten years later, the women are going back to the Parkway.

Organizers announced plans yesterday for a big anniversary celebration of the 1997 Million Woman March, which drew at least half a million people to Center City. The event will be held Oct. 25 from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., centered at 21st and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

"Whatever we do, when women get together, it gets done," said Paula Peebles, co-organizer of the celebration, called the "Sistahs of the Million Woman March."

The message of the march on that long-ago October day was trifold: Take pride in yourself. Take back your communities. Take care of your children.

The anniversary celebration intends to build on those themes, fostering empowerment, providing health information and urging an end to violence.

The pending celebration, like the original 1997 march, will be led primarily by African American women, though women of all colors - and even some men - will take part.

Peebles spoke at a City Hall news conference where she was joined by Mayor Street, other organizers and veterans of the first march. Street told how, 10 years ago, he knew massive numbers of women would be flooding the Parkway because he'd gotten a call from his 73-year-old aunt in upstate New York - and she was coming.

Sadly, the mayor said, his aunt died last week. "She had every intention of being here," he said. "She's with us in spirit."