The Black History of the White House (63 page)

102.
 Richard Nixon, “Toast of the President at a Dinner Honoring Duke Ellington,” White House, Washington, D.C., April 29, 1969, American Presidency Project website:
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/​index.php?pid=2025
.

103.
 Bositis,
Blacks and the 1992 National Democratic Convention
, p. 29.

104.
 A. H. Lawrence,
Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography
(New York: Routledge, 2001), p. 377; and Leonard Garment,
Crazy Rhythm: My Journey From Brooklyn, Jazz, and Wall Street to Nixon's White House, Watergate, and beyond. . . .
(New York: Times Books, 1997), p. 172.

105.
 Hasse,
Beyond Category
, p. 373.

106.
 Ibid.

107.
 Kirk,
Music at the White House
, p. 322.

108.
 Ibid., p. 343.

109.
 Ibid.

110.
 Richard Harrington, “Lionel Hampton's South Lawn Serenade,”
Washington Post
, September 11, 1981.

111.
 William H. Honan, “Book Discloses That Reagan Planned to Kill National Endowment for Arts,”
New York Times
, May 15, 1988.

112.
 Text of H.CON.RES 57:

Whereas, jazz has achieved preeminence throughout the world as an indigenous American music and art form, bringing to this country and the world a uniquely American musical synthesis and culture through the African-American experience and

1. makes evident to the world an outstanding artistic model of individual expression and democratic cooperation within the creative process, thus fulfilling the highest ideals and aspirations of our republic,

2. is a unifying force, bridging cultural, religious, ethnic and age differences in our diverse society,

3. is a true music of the people, finding its inspiration in the cultures and most personal experiences of the diverse peoples that constitute our Nation,

4. has evolved into a multifaceted art form which continues to birth and nurture new stylistic idioms and cultural fusions,

5. has had an historic, pervasive and continuing influence on other genres of music both here and abroad, and

6. has become a true international language adopted by musicians around the world as a music best able to express contemporary realities from a personal perspective;

Whereas, this great American musical art form has not yet been properly recognized nor accorded the institutional status commensurate with its value and importance;

Whereas, it is important for the youth of America to recognize and understand jazz as a significant part of their cultural and intellectual heritage;

Whereas, in as much as there exists no effective national infrastructure to support and preserve jazz;

Whereas, documentation and archival support required by such a great art form has yet to be systematically applied to the jazz field; and

Whereas, it is now in the best interest of the national welfare and all of our citizens to preserve and celebrate this unique art form;

Now, therefore be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that it is the sense of the Congress that jazz is hereby designated as a rare and valuable national American treasure to which we should devote our attention, support and resources to make certain it is preserved, understood and promulgated.

113.
 Howard Reich, “Jazz at the White House Newport Stars, The Clintons And WTTW Celebrate America's Music,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 12, 1993.

114.
 Peter Watrous, “Jazz at the White House: A Metaphor for Democracy (and a Help to the Boss),”
New York Times
, September 21, 1998.

115.
 Ibid.

116.
 “NEA Jazz Masters Honored At White House Event: A Salute to NEA Jazz Masters Celebrates Black Music Month,” National Endowment for the Arts press release, Washington, D.C., June 22, 2004.

117.
 Public Law 108-72. SEC. 6. Sense of Congress Regarding Jazz Appreciation Month.

(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds the following:

(1) On December 4, 1987, Congress approved House Concurrent Resolution 57, designating jazz as ‘a rare and valuable national American treasure'.

(2) Jazz has inspired some of the Nation's leading creative artists and ranks as one of the greatest cultural exports of the United States.

(3) Jazz is an original American art form which has inspired dancers, choreographers, poets, novelists, filmmakers, classical composers, and musicians in many other kinds of music.

(4) Jazz has become an international language that bridges cultural differences and brings people of all races, ages, and backgrounds together.

(5) The jazz heritage of the United States should be appreciated as broadly as possible and should be part of the educational curriculum for children in the United States.

(6) The Smithsonian Institution has played a vital role in the preservation of American culture, including art and music.

(7) The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has established April as Jazz Appreciation Month to pay tribute to jazz as both a historic and living American art form.

(8) The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has received great contributions toward this effort from other governmental agencies and cultural organizations.

(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History should be commended for establishing a Jazz Appreciation Month; and

(2) musicians, schools, colleges, libraries, concert halls, museums, radio and television stations, and other organizations should develop programs to explore, perpetuate, and honor jazz as a national and world treasure.

118.
 “Remarks by the First Lady at the White House Music Series: The Jazz Studio,” Office of the First Lady, The White House, June 15, 2009.

119.
 Schudel, “Top Jazz Students.

120.
 “Remarks by the First Lady at the White House Music Series: The Jazz Studio,” White House press release, Office of the First Lady, Washington, D.C., June 15, 2009.

Chapter 8

    1.
 “Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Race.” See Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League:
http://www.unia-acl.org/archive/declare.htm
.

    2.
 Ibid,
http://www.unia-acl.org/archive/anthem.htm
.

    3.
 “'Black House' for Capitol, [
sic
]”
New York Times
, August 18, 1920.

    4.
 John Hope Franklin,
From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans
(New York: Vintage Books, 1969), pp. 481–483. In a parallel development, race riots also broke out in the United Kingdom in Liverpool, London, and Cardiff during this same summer. In Cardiff, lynch mobs raided the black community and at least three people were killed and dozens were injured.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/​pathways/firstworldwar/spotlights/​demobilisation.htm
.

    5.
 For a listing of all the cities where riots occurred, see “For Action on Race Riot Peril,”
New York Times
, October 5, 1919.

    6.
 David M. Kennedy,
Over Here: The First World War and American Society (NY: Oxford University Press, 2004),
279, 281–2.

    7.
 Mark I. Solomon,
The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917-1936
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998), pp. 3–21.

    8.
 Garvey would later name of one of the ships he planned to use to ferry blacks to Africa the
Booker T. Washington
.

    9.
 “Meeting Of The Universal Negro Improvement Association,”
http://www.inithebabeandsuckling.com/GARVEY.html
.

  10.
 Ibid.

  11.
 Ibid.

  12.
 Ibid.

  13.
 Robert Hill,
The Marcus Garvey and Universal Improvement Association Papers: 27 August 1919–31 August 1920
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), p. 35.

  14.
 Ibid, p. 36.

  15.
 Ibid, p. 38.

  16.
 Ibid, p. 39. Robert Moten was Booker T. Washington's successor at the Tuskegee Institute.

  17.
 Letter to Harry M. Daugherty, United States Attorney-General from Harry H. Pace et al. Undated. Cited in Marcus Garvey and Amy Jacques Garvey,
Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey: or Africa for the Africans, Vol. 3
(New York: Routledge, 1967), pp. 294-300.

  18.
 Ibid, Hill, p. 25; and “Report by Special Agent Mortimer J. Davis, January 6, 1923. Marcus Garvey website:
http://www.marcusgarvey.com/wmview.php?ArtID=423
.

  19.
 The only major work on Callie House and the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association has been done by civil rights activist and legal scholar Mary Frances Berry.
See
Mary Frances Berry,
My Face is Black is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparation
(New York: Vintage Books, 2005).

  20.
 Individuals over 70 years of age would get a lump sum of $500 and a monthly pension of $15. Those between 60 and 70 would receive a $300 lump sum and $12 monthly. Those between 50 and 60 would receive a $100 lump sum and $8 monthly. And finally, those under 50 would receive $4 monthly. As they aged, they would receive a corresponding increase in monthly pension. Ibid, p. 34.

  21.
 Callie House letter to membership, undated. Cited in Mary Francis Berry, p. 78.

  22.
 Ibid, Berry, p. 84.

  23.
 For a discussion of the abuses of the Post Office, see Dorothy Garfield Fowler,
Unmailable: Congress and the Post Office
(Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1977).

  24.
 Ibid, Berry, p. 83.

  25.
 Ibid, Kornweibel, p. 104.

  26.
 Theodore Kornweibel Jr.,
“Seeing Red”: Federal Campaigns Against Black Militancy, 1919-1925
(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), pp. 20–21, 46–47.

  27.
 Ibid, p. 102.

  28.
 BBC, “Interview with Martin Luther King,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/​world_news_america/​7838851.stm
. Accessed July 26, 2009.

  29.
 Shirley Chisholm, “It is Time for a Change,” in Philip S. Foner, ed.,
The Voice of Black America: Major Speeches by Negroes in the United States, 1797-1971
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972), p. 1153.

  30.
 Ibid, 1156.

  31.
 John Nichols, “Shirley Chisholm's Legacy,”
The Nation
, January 3, 2005. See
The Nation
website:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/2098
.

  32.
 Ibid, Nichols; and Peniel Joseph,
Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama
(New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2010), p. 188.

  33.
 Ibid, Nichols. The first African American to receive votes for the presidential nomination at a major party convention was Frederick Douglass at the 1888 Republican National Convention. Rev. Channing Philips, a Washington, D.C.-based minister who led the D.C. delegation to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, had his name put in for the nomination and received 68 votes, thus becoming the first African American at the DNC to receive votes for nomination for the president.

  34.
 James Haskins,
Fighting Shirley Chisholm
(New York: The Dial Press, 1975), pp. 167, 173.

  35.
 Shirley Chisholm,
The Good Fight
(New York: Harper & Row, 1973), p. 3.

  36.
 
See
Shirley Chisholm,
Unbought and Unbossed
(Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin, 1970).

  37.
 Jesse Jackson, “A Chance to Serve,” in
Jesse Jackson and Frank Clemente, Keep Hope Alive: Jesse Jackson's 1988 Presidential Campaign
(Boston: South End Press, 1989), p. 32.

  38.
 For a critique of the rise and fall of the National Rainbow Coalition, see Sheila Collins,
The Rainbow Challenge: The Jackson Campaign and the Future of U.S. Politics
(New York: Monthly Review Press, 1987).

  39.
 R.H. Melton and Richard Morin, “Wilder Taking Command in Va. Race, Polls Show,”
Washington Post
, October 29, 1989.

  40.
 Scott Keeter and Nilanthi Samaranayake,
Can You Trust What Polls Say about Obama's Electoral Prospects?
, Pew Research Center, 2007. See Pew Research Center website:
http://pewresearch.org
.

  41.
 
http://www.4president.org/speeches/​dougwilder1992announcement.htm
.

  42.
 Dwayne Yancey,
When Hell Froze Over: The Untold Story of Doug Wilder, A Black Politician's Rise to Power in the South
(Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1988), p. 34.

  43.
 Robert Jordan, “Is the Jackson Political Era Ending?,”
Boston Globe
, December 3, 1989.

  44.
 Juan Williams, “One-Man Show,”
Washington Post
, June 9, 1991.

  45.
 David Mills, “Sister Souljah's Call to Arms,”
Washington Post
, May 13, 1992.

  46.
 Clinton also allowed the execution of a mentally retarded black man, Ricky Ray, on January 24, 1992, to burnish, many felt, his credentials with the law-and-order
crowd. Despite pleadings to commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole from Jackson, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and others, Clinton refused. Nat Hentoff, “Hard Line on the Death Penalty,”
Washington Post
, March 21, 1992; and “Reverend Jesse Jackson and Rainbow Coalition Ask Clinton to Spare Rector,” press release, National Rainbow Coalition, Chicago, January 24, 1993.