It’s April 10, 1956, and singer Nat King Cole is assaulted on stage at a whites-only show in Birmingham, Alabama. In all, six men from a white supremacist group are charged with attempted kidnapping and intent to commit murder. Cole is injured in the attack and ends the show. “I can’t understand it,” Cole said later. “I haven’t taken part in any protests. Why should they attack me?”
Critics of Cole were quick to rebut that his “fence-riding” was part of the problem. “Organized bigotry makes no distinction between neutrals and activists in the fight for equality,” stated Roy Wilkins of the NAACP. A New York newspaper wrote that the singer had turned his back on the struggle by playing to Jim Crow audiences. Judge Thurgood Marshall said, “All Cole needs to complete his role as an Uncle Tom is a banjo.”
The criticism of Cole was a turning point. He had been content in what one historian called “quiet activism.” He gave anonymously to Black causes, and insisted on equal accommodations on the road. But following the attack, he openly supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he joined the NAACP, and was a civil rights consultant for President Lyndon Johnson.
Music historians are quick, however, to note that Cole’s quiet activism was effective, as well. Later in 1956, The Nat “King” Cole Show debuted on NBC. It aired for two seasons, though mostly unsponsored. This, declared one music critic, was a landmark. A Black entertainer, with talent, poise, eloquence, and style, was seen by millions, and opened the door to greater exposure for Black artists.
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