(C) Verite News New Orleans

(C) Verite News New Orleans
This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .

Musicians helped a movement overcome racial injustice [1]

['Nigell Moses', 'More Nigell Moses']

Date: 2023-02-22

The sounds of the bass drum booming, the buzzing of the trumpet, the mellow, rich tone of the piano and the soulful scat of a singer who embodies self-expression and freedom — these are all elements of the genre known as jazz.

The music, which originated in New Orleans, is a balm that has healed many souls. It also has conveyed powerful political and human rights messages. From “Strange Fruit,” the 1959 song about lynchings made popular by singer Billie Holiday to “We Made It Through That Water,” the 2010 song about Hurricane Katrina survivors written by the Free Agents Brass Band, the music has carried voices to places they would not otherwise be heard.

While Freedom Riders, protesters and civil rights activists stood on the front lines in the struggle for freedom and justice, it was musicians that provided a soundtrack to their fight for equality. Although musicians weren’t necessarily in the streets marching, boycotting segregated stores or participating in sit-ins at lunch counters, they experienced racial injustice both on and off stage and used their music to call out and resist injustice.

The music – jazz, blues, soul, R&B, folk – came from the lived experiences of Black people, their trials and triumphs. Songs like John Coltrane’s “Alabama” and Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam” gave voice to the grief and anger of African Americans in the face of oppression, often deadly, during the civil rights movement.

Join our mailing list See more

Entertainers were often forced into closer proximity with white segregationists during the Jim Crow era. Dr. Michael White, jazz clarinetist and historian, remembers swallowing his feelings during a performance for a college fraternity and sorority that were honoring the birthday of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Michael White, jazz clarinetist and historian, remembers the danger of performing during the Jim Crow era. Credit: Photo courtesy of Basin Street Records

“Just the event itself was a type of microaggression,” he said.

White said his life was threatened at the age of 24 when he played in the St. Joseph Day parade.

“I remember there was a group, like a motorcycle gang. We had stopped and they were looking. One guy looked at me and called me the N-word, and he said if I looked at him, he’d kill me,” White recalled.

White said the improvisational style of jazz gave Black musicians a type of freedom. They were able to gain prominence on stages and play solo parts independently.

In 1957, as the governor of Arkansas mobilized that state’s National Guard to block Black students from attending Central High School in Little Rock, New Orleans’ most famous jazz musician, Louis Armstrong, broke his silence against segregation. Armstrong, one of the most famous entertainers in the world at the time, took a courageous stand while the United States tried to use him as a goodwill ambassador to other countries during the Cold War while Black people endured oppression at home.

Armstrong told a reporter he felt like he should withdraw from a Soviet Union jazz tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department. “The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell,” Armstrong said. “The people over there ask me what’s wrong with my country. What am I supposed to say?” he said in an interview with Larry Ray Lubenow of the Grand Forks Herald.

As Black people pushed for voting rights, integration, and personal freedom during the civil rights movement, a musician’s prominence may have provided some benefits but it also put them in precarious positions.

Our commitment to listening See more

Dodie Smith, a Freedom Rider, remembered sitting at a club one night with Worthia G. “Showboy” Thomas, a New Orleans rhythm and blues trombonist who “would never let white folks take his picture.” Smith said Thomas told her about his own incident of racial violence.

Smith recalled Thomas telling her that he was forced to sing a song called “High Society.” An old white man came up to him while he was sitting at a restaurant “reached in his pocket, took a gun out, [and] put it to his head,” Smith said. With the weapon pointed at him, Thomas began singing, “Oh, I wish I wasn’t high society.”

“Black musicians went through a lot,” Smith said.

Racial harmony was and still is a goal.

Tyrus Chapman, a trombonist for the Hot 8 in New Orleans, wrote a song called “Let Me Do My Thing.” His lyrics call for people to come together: “Blacks and whites, we all need to get along, all we need is to show love.”

“Everybody comes from different walks of life, but we are one people,” Chapman said.

Billie and De De Pierce and their Preservation Hall Jazz Band (1965) by Dan Leyrer. Credit: Photo courtesy of Preservation Hall

Join Verite’s Mailing List | Get the news that matters to you

Read the latest from Verite

Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Close window X Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Verite’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications: Look for the “Republish This Story” button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).

You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.

You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.

Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.

If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @VeriteNewsNola @VeriteNewsNola For print publications: You have to credit Verite. We prefer “Author Name, Verite News” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Verite News” and include our website, veritenews.org

You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.

You cannot republish our photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Tim Morris

Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.

You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.

You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.

Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.

If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @VeriteNewsNola on Facebook @VeriteNewsNola on Twitter. If you have any other questions, contact managing editor Tim Morris. Freedom sounds: Musicians helped a movement overcome racial injustice <h1>Freedom sounds: Musicians helped a movement overcome racial injustice</h1> by Nigell Moses, Verite February 22, 2023 The sounds of the bass drum booming, the buzzing of the trumpet, the mellow, rich tone of the piano and the soulful scat of a singer who embodies self-expression and freedom — these are all elements of the genre known as jazz. <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-full"><img src="https://veritenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Black-History-Month-logo.png" alt="" class="wp-image-3809" /></figure> The music, which originated in New Orleans, is a balm that has healed many souls. It also has conveyed powerful political and human rights messages. From <a href="https://youtu.be/pCgyKVxSkuw">“Strange Fruit,”</a> the 1959 song about lynchings made popular by singer Billie Holiday to <a href="https://youtu.be/mPAL9GJPXrY">“We Made It Through That Water,”</a> the 2010 song about Hurricane Katrina survivors written by the Free Agents Brass Band, the music has carried voices to places they would not otherwise be heard. While Freedom Riders, protesters and civil rights activists stood on the front lines in the struggle for freedom and justice, it was musicians that provided a soundtrack to their fight for equality. Although musicians weren’t necessarily in the streets marching, boycotting segregated stores or participating in sit-ins at lunch counters, they experienced racial injustice both on and off stage and used their music to call out and resist injustice. The music – jazz, blues, soul, R&B, folk – came from the lived experiences of Black people, their trials and triumphs. Songs like John Coltrane’s <a href="https://youtu.be/Sd5R0susntk">“Alabama”</a> and Nina Simone’s <a href="https://youtu.be/-HM2S6TVYII">“Mississippi Goddam”</a> gave voice to the grief and anger of African Americans in the face of oppression, often deadly, during the civil rights movement. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-verite wp-block-embed-verite"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://veritenews.org/join-our-mailing-list/ </div> </figure> Entertainers were often forced into closer proximity with white segregationists during the Jim Crow era. Dr. Michael White, jazz clarinetist and historian, remembers swallowing his feelings during a performance for a college fraternity and sorority that were honoring the birthday of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://veritenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_8211.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-4268" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Michael White, jazz clarinetist and historian, remembers the danger of performing during the Jim Crow era. </figcaption></figure> “Just the event itself was a type of microaggression,” he said. White said his life was threatened at the age of 24 when he played in the St. Joseph Day parade. “I remember there was a group, like a motorcycle gang. We had stopped and they were looking. One guy looked at me and called me the N-word, and he said if I looked at him, he’d kill me,” White recalled. White said the improvisational style of jazz gave Black musicians a type of freedom. They were able to gain prominence on stages and play solo parts independently. In 1957, as the governor of Arkansas mobilized that state’s National Guard to block Black students from attending Central High School in Little Rock, New Orleans’ most famous jazz musician, Louis Armstrong, broke his silence against segregation. Armstrong, one of the most famous entertainers in the world at the time, took a courageous stand while the United States tried to use him as a goodwill ambassador to other countries during the Cold War while Black people endured oppression at home. Armstrong told a reporter he felt like he should withdraw from a Soviet Union jazz tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department. “The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell,” Armstrong said. “The people over there ask me what’s wrong with my country. What am I supposed to say?” he said in an interview with Larry Ray Lubenow of the Grand Forks Herald. As Black people pushed for voting rights, integration, and personal freedom during the civil rights movement, a musician’s prominence may have provided some benefits but it also put them in precarious positions. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-verite wp-block-embed-verite"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://veritenews.org/our-commitment-to-listening/ </div> </figure> Dodie Smith, a Freedom Rider, remembered sitting at a club one night with Worthia G. “Showboy” Thomas, a New Orleans rhythm and blues trombonist who “would never let white folks take his picture.” Smith said Thomas told her about his own incident of racial violence. Smith recalled Thomas telling her that he was forced to sing a song called “High Society.” An old white man came up to him while he was sitting at a restaurant “reached in his pocket, took a gun out, [and] put it to his head,” Smith said. With the weapon pointed at him, Thomas began singing, “Oh, I wish I wasn’t high society.” “Black musicians went through a lot,” Smith said. Racial harmony was and still is a goal. Tyrus Chapman, a trombonist for the Hot 8 in New Orleans, wrote a song called <a href="https://youtu.be/gmiHyN-WrmE">“Let Me Do My Thing.”</a> His lyrics call for people to come together: “Blacks and whites, we all need to get along, all we need is to show love.” “Everybody comes from different walks of life, but we are one people,” Chapman said. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://veritenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Billie-De-De-Preservation-Hall.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-4270" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Billie and De De Pierce and their Preservation Hall Jazz Band (1965) by Dan Leyrer.</figcaption></figure> This <a target="_blank" href="https://veritenews.org/2023/02/22/freedom-sounds-musicians-helped-a-movement-overcome-racial-injustice/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://veritenews.org">Verite</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/veritenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/cropped-Verite-icon.png?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://veritenews.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=4259&ga=319934958" style="width:1px;height:1px;">

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://veritenews.org/2023/02/22/freedom-sounds-musicians-helped-a-movement-overcome-racial-injustice/

Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/