\u201cThe House on Cherry Street\u201d takes the stage Sunday, Aug. 16, at what is now the Young Men\u2019s Leadership Academy at Phillis Wheatley.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe theater still has the original chairs, the original flooring, the original stage,\u201d said Cedric “Legacy City” Bellamy, the show’s writer, director and producer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Bellamy, the setting brings the story full circle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I walk in, boom! The man I\u2019m doing the documentary on is right there on the wall,\u201d Bellamy said.<\/p>\n
That man is Percy Sutton<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Bellamy\u2019s interest began when he learned Sutton had represented Malcolm X as an attorney.<\/p>\n A San Antonio native, Sutton served during World War II as an intelligence officer with the Tuskegee Airmen. He later became a civil rights attorney, New York state lawmaker, Manhattan borough president and media entrepreneur. His investments included Black-owned radio stations, and he helped restore Harlem\u2019s Apollo Theater as a major cultural institution.<\/p>\n Bellamy had already been developing a documentary about Percy Sutton when his research led him back to the rest of the family.<\/p>\n Percy was the youngest of 15 children born to educators Samuel and Lillian Sutton. Twelve of their children survived to adulthood<\/a>, and all 12 earned college degrees before building careers in education, medicine, science, law, politics, business and public service.<\/p>\n Among them was G.J. Sutton<\/a>, who became the first Black elected official from Bexar County and later represented San Antonio in the Texas House. Oliver Sutton<\/a> became a New York Supreme Court judge, while John Sutton<\/a> worked as a scientist and studied under George Washington Carver.<\/p>\n The family also operated businesses that included a mattress factory, skating rink and funeral home.<\/p>\n \u201cAll 12 kids went on to make history,\u201d Bellamy said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things they covered\u2014politics, entertainment, education.\u201d<\/p>\n Their story was rooted in the family home built in 1896 at 430 N. Cherry St., which still stands today.<\/p>\n Historical accounts identify Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Mary McLeod Bethune and Thurgood Marshall among the prominent Black leaders who visited the Sutton home. At a time when segregation barred Black travelers from many hotels, homes like the Sutton residence became important gathering places.<\/p>\n \u201cCherry Street, we pass by there every day not knowing the history that\u2019s been there,\u201d Bellamy said. \u201cAll that history just sits right here, and we go by it every day and take it for granted until we don\u2019t have it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n The family\u2019s commitment to young people continued into the next generation. In the late 1940s, daughter Lillian Sutton-Taylor<\/a> created the Teenage Canteen, an organization open to young people regardless of social status. Historical records estimate it served about 5,000 young people during its existence.<\/p>\n
Bellamy did not want to bring that history forward through a conventional lecture.<\/p>\n \u201cThe House on Cherry Street\u201d is a monologue-based stage production combining jazz, hip-hop, tap, ballet and interpretive dance. The music is designed to place the audience inside the different eras represented in the play.<\/p>\n \u201cThe music, it captures that era, that feel of that time period,\u201d Bellamy said.<\/p>\n The all-Black cast includes talent from across San Antonio. For some cast members, it will be their first public-speaking role.<\/p>\n One performer, a retired Navy veteran identified as Mr. Buckley, gives a voice to the house itself.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the house could talk, he\u2019ll sound like that,\u201d Bellamy said.<\/p>\n Bellamy, an Army veteran and independent artist, was recently honored as producer of the year at the Texas Rap Music Hall of Fame and Cultural Excellence Awards.<\/p>\n He said the Wheatley alumni who came before today\u2019s students are also central to the production.<\/p>\n Bellamy wants them to know their accomplishments and experiences matter \u2014 and that they helped make this production possible.<\/p>\n
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\nOne man leads Bellamy to an extraordinary family <\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ea6a0cfb-5747-4f2d-8f41-de053d1cb5d4_1140x641.jpg\")
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\nTelling history through music and movement <\/p>\n
\nBringing the Sutton story back to Wheatley <\/p>\n
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