Lots of examples of this down the years, many emanating from the USA .... ... In southern states till after the mid 60's, audiences were segregated for music shows, even those that starred an all black line-up. Anyone getting up to dance to say Little Richard or the Marvelettes at a show would be attacked with billy sticks by the local police if they 'mingled' whilst dancing (each colour had to stay their own side of the dividing rope).

Black acts being told they couldn't eat / sleep / drink in lots of southern food halls & hotels. In Miami, top black acts appearing as the star attraction in the hotel's concert room weren't allowed to eat / drink or stay at those same hotels and they were even banned from entering them via the main front doors. How ingrained this practise was is illustrated by US soul singers who came to the UK in the 60's to tour ... many felt too scared to use the front entrance to the London hotel they were staying in whilst in the city (even when told by their British friends that they had no need to use the service entrance.

The top US music mag -- BILLBOARD -- even abandoned it's black chart (R&B CHART) for a period of around 14 months (up to late Jan 65) as ... there was no need for a black chart with so many R&B records getting in their HOT 100 pop chart. The first R&B chart after Billboard reinstated it (30th Jan 65) showed every 45 as a new entry even though many of them had been on the charts for some months.

All the US major record labels treated 'race music' / black music as a 2nd class citizen right through to the early 60's. The likes of Mercury would include new Rhythm & Blues releases on their full page ads but only as a small section tucked away near the bottom. The likes of RCA never really paid much attention to black acts (apart from a few such as Sam Cooke) until the mid 60's -- by then they had to as black acts were some of the biggest sellers in the US. Right through the 50's / 60's, if there was a popular black record out, the majors would rush out a 'white pop' version of the song to take away many sales from the original version. They'd also get their top white acts to cut covers of popular 'black songs' -- the likes of Elvis, the Crew Cuts, Pat Boone, the Maguire Sisters, Ricky Nelson. In fact, Pat Boone had so many top hits with his insipid covers of R&B songs that his whole career was built on them.

Top black acts had to fight to get bookings (even in the mid 60's) in top night clubs (New York's Copacabana for instance), top tourist resorts (Vegas & Miami Beach) and on US TV shows. It was only the likes of the Supremes, Temptations & other top Motown acts that eventually 'broke through' -- and to achieve that Berry Gordy had to get them to include many show tunes , MOR rubbish in their acts.

Radio wasn't that much better, with most US pop stations ignoring the original black version of a popular song and playlisting the white cover version instead. US Forces radio was no better -- by the late 60's, the vast majority of soldiers sent to fight in front-line positions in Viet Nam were black guys. Loads were being called up & sent over there only to return in body bags (they weren't allowed to use 'bone spurs' as a way of avoiding service). Even though the military audience for Forces radio was substantially black, AFN didn't have much interest in programming black records. Up to Feb 69 a breakdown of AFN music content showed these % ... ... .. .. ... .. 24% MOR , 21% white rock / pop, 11% easy listening, 10% c & w, 7% classical, 5% jazz & 4% R&B. It was only because of overwhelming demand that they started R&B shows hosted by the likes of Barbara McNair & Hernan Griffin to meet their audience's needs.

At least, in this country, we only treated black acts as inferior second-classers on very few occasions. In fact we usually treated visiting US singers / groups with great respect (not something that could always be said about how our Caribbean immigrant UK based acts were often treated). It wasn't just coincidence that DAVE GODIN used to end his B&S articles with the 'DO WHAT'S RIGHT, NOT WHAT'S WHITE' statement back in the day.

Of course, in the 'wider world' across America, many other injustices occurred. When politicians deemed it necessary for major freeways to be constructed to connect into city centres, it was just about always black neighborhoods that would be selected as the route for these wide roads. The likes of Miami, Detroit, Chicago & many other cities had their main black housing areas demolished. With their clientele scattered to the 4 winds, the local black businesses (hotels, clubs, bars, shops) would soon have to close down. . . . . I'm sure lots of other examples of discrimination in the music world have gone unlisted above ... anyone want to list any others I've missed ...

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Roburt

I don't think any of us here in the UK knew when we went to see our favourite bands perform live on stage back in the 60s just how badly they were treated in the States - to us they were our heroes! I remember chatting to a few (Jimmy Cliff, Oscar Tony Jr, J.J. Jackson, Jimmy Ruffin are a few that come to mind) before they went on stage at The Wheel - they didn't have the same "big" attitude that some of the UK stars had - it was just like chatting to one of your mates. I felt so lucky & honoured to meet them, but none ever mentioned their life " back home". It was much later when I saw news reports that I began to realise just how bad life was for them in the USA.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Kathryn Magson

Remember Dave Godin saying at an early Soul Essence that Diana Ross questioned whether she was allowed to travel in the same car as him when the Motown review toured in the early 60s.

27 minutes ago, Kathryn Magson said:

Jimmy Cliff, Oscar Tony Jr, J.J. Jackson, Jimmy Ruffin are a few that come to mind) - they didn't have the same "big" attitude that some of the UK stars had - it was just like chatting to one of your mates. I felt so lucky & honoured to meet them, but none ever mentioned their life " back home".

How true. Lots were bowled over by the kindness shown them by Brits, both industry people & their audience members. FOR INSTANCE, Edwin Starr was booked to play his 1st ever UK club date @ the King Mojo in Sheffield. He headed up to the 'Steel City' from London, UK backing band in tow. Only when he got there did he realise he was playing the niter session & wouldn't be on stage till around 2am. The band were OK with that as they just planned to drive back home (London ?) thru the night. But Edwin didn't want to do that as his body clock was still on US time. He had words with Pete Stringfellow & Pete arranged for him to sleep on the floor at his mother's house after his performance & go on with his UK exploits the next day in normal time (i.e. after 9am) ... after that, one of Edwin's best British friends was always Pete Stringfellow (that's why Edwin was signed to Stringers record label in 1985).

I remember being very close to Ike & Tina when they were on stage at The Wheel (it was a very small stage & I was in what would now be called the moshing pit lol). I was surprised to see that Tina had a carefully-mended hole in her tights. Funny how odd little things stick in your mind even after all these years! Also - we didn't know back then just how badly she was treated by Ike, so maybe she wasn't allowed much money to spend on herself? She certainly made up for it later though didn't she? Well done Tina! xx

Just like AFN usually ignored the listening needs of black military guys ... USO usually did the same.

USO was the United Services Organisation and they sent entertainers overseas to perform for the troops. In Vite Nam they usually got a package headed by Bob Hope or a visit from John Wayne or the like. Not many black army guys were too thrilled with those performers & wanted someone to be booked who they'd like to see.

In the Korean War, Marilyn Monroe did a USO tour visiting about a dozen different camps -- she was accompanied on these shows by a black doo-wop group. There's 100's of pictures of her on that tour & dozens of articles about it. But even though the doo wop group are even pictured singing with her on stage, I couldn't find one mention of who they were. They weren't named even once.

Eventually James Brown said he'd go out to Viet Nam to do some shows & they were so popular he was awarded a medal. A few other black stars were added to Bib Hope style packages that headed out to the far east too, but not that many (Lola Falana being one -- see pic).

Philly radio DJ Georgie Woods even toured Viet Nam (with Jimmy Wisner) to meet the needs for entertainment of blacks in the military.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Roburt