Fact #58958
When:
Short story:
A white mob forces nine black students, The Little Rock Nine, who have entered Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, to leave the premises. The nine will not be able to attend the school until two days later, when
1,000 US paratroopers are required to protect them from segregationist whites. Jazzman Charles Mingus will be compose his song Fables Of Faubus about the state governor, Orval E. Faubus, who handled the situation so badly, and a song, The Little Rock Nine, will be written in support of the students. Another song, State Of Arkansas (My Name Is Terry Roberts), best-known in a version by Pete Seeger, focuses its attention on the story of one member of the Little Rock Nine.
Full article:
Frank Sinatra : Remember that leering, cursing lynch mob in Little Rock reviling a meek, innocent little 12-year-old Negro girl as she tried to enroll in public school? Weren't they - or most of them - devout churchgoers? I detest the two-faced who pretend liberality but are practiced bigots in their own mean little spheres. I didn't tell my daughter whom to marry, but I'd have broken her back if she had had big eyes for a bigot. As I see it, man is a product of his conditioning, and the social forces which mold his morality and conduct - including racial prejudice - are influenced more by material things like food and economic necessities than by the fear and awe and bigotry generated by the high priests of commercialized superstition. Now don't get me wrong. I'm for decency - period. I'm for anything and everything that bodes love and consideration for my fellow man. But when lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday - cash me out.
(Interview in Playboy magazine, 1963)
Tweet this Fact
(Interview in Playboy magazine, 1963)