Very early in her career, Marilyn Monroe’s vocal coach insisted that she study Ella Fitzgerald’s singing. Rumor has it that the coach ordered Monroe to buy all of Fitzgerald’s records, and listen to them 100 times in a row. This made Monroe not only a pretty solid singer, but it was the beginning of a …
Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI) recently acknowledged KCCK-FM for its series, “Soundtrack to the Struggle.” KCCK production specialists Ron Adkins and Hollis Monroe accepted the Eric Sevareid Award for Best Writing. “Soundtrack to the Struggle” is an on-going series of short features, airing twice daily during February’s Black History month. Each feature spotlights a …
They crowned Jack Johnson the first Black heavyweight champion in 1908, but the fight had just begun. The Black community was overjoyed, seeing Johnson’s title as a major step toward equality. Whites in America, however, were often near panic. Even the New York Times wrote that “thousands of his ignorant brothers will misinterpret [Johnson’s] victory …
Singer Dinah Washington and her seventh husband, football legend Dick “Night Train” Lane, were an unlikely pair. She wasn’t a fan of football, but she was madly in love with Night Train. They each fought bigotry in their own ways – Washington by challenging segregation in the music industry, Lane by changing the perception of …
The year was 1948, and the DuMont company had recently created a TV network to help build demand for their line of television sets. Actress and singer Amanda Randolph was the first African-American woman to star in a network television show. The program was The Laytons, and Randolph was one of the stars. It only …
On Sunday, September 15, 1963, four Klansmen planted dynamite under the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The explosion killed four young girls and injured many others. History records this incident as a turning point in the Civil Rights movement. Coltrane, his heart broken, was driven to tears, anger, and frustration. But instead of …
Three pioneering women lay claim to Blues royalty. Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith made an impact on American culture that still resonates today. Mamie Smith became in 1920 the first Black musician to make vocal blues recordings. A savvy marketer, she exploited the new medium of radio to reach audiences across the country …
