Little Richard Was a Quiet Civil Rights Pioneer Whose Concerts Helped Push Culture Past Segregation
The early history of rock 'n' roll is a story of segregation -- and Little Richard, who died of bone cancer at 87 on May 9, was a key player in the fight to destroy it.Because of Jim Crow laws, and racism in general, African-American musicians from Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker to Motown revues traveling through the South spent much of the 20th century relegated to black hotels and black restaurants, denied entrance even to hotels where they were headlining. Ballrooms and auditoriums drew physical ropes through their audiences to separate blacks and whites from dancing or congregating together when Chuck Berry or Lloyd Price were on stage.