Beatles Refused To Play For Segregated Audiences, Contract Reveal

[Kadie]

Beatles Refused To Play For Segregated Audiences, Contract Reveal

Posted: 9/16/11 04:33 PM ET


In 1971, John Lennon released an album called "Some Time In New York City," a snap shot of the tumultuous politics and revolutionary spirit of the time. Amongst the songs on the record was "Attica State," an angry response to the violent quelling of a prison riot that took down inmates in Attica State Prison rebelling against the murder of a black prisoner in San Quentin.

"Come together join the movement/ Take a stand for human rights/ Fear and hatred clouds our judgement/ Free us all from endless night," Lennon passionately pleaded, calling on his fan base to speak out against the shooting. But while this was perhaps his most radical recording, new documents reveal that Lennon and the rest of his then-intact Fab Four took a stand against inequality while still in the prime years of The Beatles, too.

According to the Guardian, a contract for the band's 1965 concert at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, right outside Oakland, made modest demands of the venue despite their fame. What they would not oblige, though, was discrimination. As the newspaper points out, they refused to play to a "segregated audience," demanding equality at their show.

In those times, it was no small request, and shows a new sense of nerve following the working class band's early rise to the top. In a show in London at the Prince of Wales Theater in 1963, Lennon remarked of the fierce income difference amongst the crowd: "For our last number I'd like to ask your help. Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/16/beatles-refused-to-play-segregated-audiences_n_966541.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

[joeybee12]

1. Good for them...reminds me of Bette Davis visting the segregated cantinas

in LA, visiting the all-black ones and taking heat for it...as she noted, if you're willing to die for your country, your skin color doesn't matter.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I am glad to know this!

They were ahead of their time, both musically and politically...

Recommended.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. The Beatles were part of the moment

At this link,you can see protesters at the Cow Palace a month before the Beatles show. The Fab Four had their backs....http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Fleming_on_Segregation

[dtexdem]

4. Well, the Cow Palace and Daly City are right outside Oakland if you consider ...

crossing the Bay Bridge and driving through San Francisco going right outside of Oakland.

Malvina Reynolds' little boxes are in Daly City, visible from parts of San Francisco (such as the Outer Mission, where I used to live). Can't quite see them from Oakland, over there on the other side of the Bay, though.

Way to go, Huffpost, or Guardian, or whoever moved Daly City!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Good For Them

Having seen The Stones, Paul McCartney, the Eagles, Jimmy Buffet, Eric Clapton and Public Enemy in concert I can say the only truly heterogeneous audience was for the P E concert.