In June 1943 Los Angeles erupted. Mobs of servicemen, off-duty police, and civilians attack young Latinos, Blacks, and other people of color. Any man wearing a “zoot suit” is fair game. 

The zoot suit had its origins in Jazz. Oversized and baggy, with wide shoulders and lapels, loose-fitting pants and tailored cuffs, they were wildly popular in 1930’s Harlem and Chicago. Jazz and Jump-Blues musicians liked how they looked on stage. Tap and Lindy-Hop dancers enjoyed the freedom of movement. Sporting a zoot suit made one feel like a hep-cat, a jive-talker, a bit of a rogue. A sub-culture emerged. Jazz-speak entered the American lexicon, and zoot suits became flags of cultural pride. Cab Calloway dubbed the fashion, “totally and truly American.”

But by 1943, zoot-suiters drew fire for wasting rationed wool. Clashes erupted, fueled by war fervor and simmering racism. In Los Angeles, full-blown riots spread into ethnic neighborhoods. An LA newspaper reported, “… mobs of several thousand … beat up every zoot-suiter they could find. Mexicans, Blacks, and Filipinos were attacked with sadistic frenzy.” A Governor’s Committee report stated that “the existence of racism cannot be ignored.” 

But rather than intimidate people of color, the riots ultimately fueled activism. The zoot suiters’ defiance inspired other minority groups and forged bonds between them. Zoot-suiters Cesar Chavez and Malcolm X. rose to spearhead the demand for racial equality. And historians now consider the Zoot Suit Riots a major impetus in the Civil Rights Movement. 

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It’s September, 1924, and Lil Hardin Armstrong gives her husband, Louis Armstrong, a
makeover. She teaches him how to dress for success, and she pushes him to be more of a
showman. Then, she persuades the new Louis Armstrong to leave the security of King Oliver’s
band to form his first Hot Five.

And while Lil enjoyed being the driving force behind Armstrong’s early career, she was not
content standing in her husband’s shadow. She was already an accomplished pianist, composer,
and bandleader. Many of the Hot Five’s biggest hits – the now-classic “Struttin’ With Some
Barbecue,” “Two Deuces,” and “Doin’ the Suzie Q,” – were Lil Hardin originals.

She was also a shrewd marketer. Dubbing her own band “Mrs. Louis Armstrong and her Chicago
Creolians” opened many doors. But it also presented challenges in Jim Crow, male-dominant
America. The band played over catcalls and racial slurs. They were often short-changed for their
work, and the threat of assault was a nightly fear. Wrote one jazz historian, “While Black
jazzmen had a hard time on the road, Black jazzwomen had it tougher.”

Lil knew the dangers, but they were worth the risk. Name recognition afforded her the chance
to prove women could be more than girl singers. Audiences and critics agreed. The Chicago
Defender wrote that Lil’s band could swing, “as capably as any masculine orchestra.”

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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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