Broadway Answers Selma

Last updated
Broadway Answers Selma
Fundraising benefit concert concert by Various singers
Venue Majestic Theatre, New York City, U.S.
Date(s)1965

Broadway Answers Selma was a fundraising benefit concert held at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway on 4 April 1965. It was held to raise funds for the civil rights movement in the aftermath of the Selma to Montgomery marches. [1]

Contents

History

The concert raised $150,000 (equivalent to $1,450,264in 2023) for the civil rights organisations Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and other recipients. [2] The Mayor of New York, Robert F. Wagner Jr., purchased the first ticket for the event. [3] Ticket prices ranged from $5 to $1000. [3] The concert aimed to raise money for the family of the Unitarian minister and activist James Reeb who was murdered while taking part in the marches. Reeb himself had been protesting the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson; Reeb's death garnered far greater national attention than Jackson's death a few weeks before. Jackson's name was belatedly added to the list of beneficiaries after the concert. [4] The four major civil rights organisations each earned $24,500 from the proceeds of the concert. [5]

The concert was organised by the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. [5] It was produced by Davis and Hillard Elkins and hosted by Davis. [6] The Majestic Theatre was the host of Davis's musical Golden Boy at the time of the benefit; use of the theatre was donated by The Shubert Organization. [6] To help promote black capitalism, Davis deposited $77,000 of the proceeds from the benefit into the Freedom National Bank in Harlem, two months after the show. [3] Davis spoke of his experience on the Selma to Montgomery march at a breakfast meeting of the men's club at the Temple Emanu-El of New York on the morning of the concert. Davis drew a comparison between the treatment of black people in the Southern states to being "probably like the Jews in Germany" during the Third Reich and said that he as proud to have faced the "Southern extremists" that opposed the march. [3] A rally held ahead of the concert in Manhattan's Theater District was attended by 5,000 people with stars of the show, members of the New York City Council, and members of the New York Police Department linking arms and singing "We Shall Overcome" which gained much media attention. [3]

The concert was over 4 hours in duration. [3] It was announced after the concert that a recording was to be produced of the event and jointly distributed by RCA Victor, Capitol, and Columbia Records. [7]

Artworks by LeRoy Neiman and Andy Warhol were donated to be raffled at the intermission of the benefit, owing to time constraints the raffle did not take place. Salvador Dalí offered a painting to be raffled, but withdrew the artwork after he could not be guaranteed a minimum price of $25,000. [8]

Some criticism following the concert concerned the relative representation of artists. Jet magazine wrote that at the concert "Conspicuous by their few numbers were Negroes in the audience and on stage". [8] An article in the jazz magazine Coda lamented that there were no contemporary jazz musicians represented at the benefit. [9]

Performers

The following featured performers were listed in an advertisement in Billboard magazine for Broadway Answers Selma:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sammy Davis Jr.</span> American entertainer (1925–1990)

Samuel George Davis Jr. was an American singer, actor, comedian and dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lena Horne</span> African American biracial singer, actress, dancer and activist (1917–2010)

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving on to Hollywood and Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selma to Montgomery marches</span> 1965 nonviolent protests for African-American voting rights in Alabama, United States

The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression; they were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in Selma and throughout the American South. By highlighting racial injustice, they contributed to passage that year of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal achievement of the civil rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola Liuzzo</span> American activist and murder victim (1925–1965)

Viola Fauver Liuzzo was an American civil rights activist in Detroit, Michigan. She was known for going to Alabama in March 1965 to support the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights. On March 25, 1965, she was shot dead by three Ku Klux Klan members while driving activists between the cities and transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Reeb</span> American activist and minister (1927–1965)

James Joseph Reeb was an American Unitarian Universalist minister, pastor, and activist during the civil rights movement in Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts. While participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches actions in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, he was murdered by white segregationists and white supremacists, dying of head injuries in the hospital two days after being severely beaten. Three men were tried for Reeb's murder but were acquitted by an all-white jury. His murder remains officially unsolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majestic Theatre (Broadway)</span> Broadway theater in Manhattan, New York

The Majestic Theatre is a Broadway theater at 245 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish style and was built for real-estate developer Irwin S. Chanin. It has 1,681 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and interior are New York City landmarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Clark (sheriff)</span> American sheriff (1922–2007)

James Gardner Clark, Jr. was the sheriff of Dallas County, Alabama, United States from 1955 to 1966. He was one of the officials responsible for the violent arrests of civil rights protestors during the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965, and is remembered as a racist whose brutal tactics included using cattle prods against unarmed civil rights supporters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheyann Webb</span> Freedom Fighter

Sheyann Webb-Christburg is a civil rights activist known as Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Smallest Freedom Fighter" and co-author of the book Selma, Lord, Selma. As an eight-year-old, Webb took part in the first attempt at the Selma to Montgomery march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, known as Bloody Sunday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson</span> American civil rights activist (1938–1965)

Jimmie Lee Jackson was an African American civil rights activist in Marion, Alabama, and a deacon in the Baptist church. On February 18, 1965, while unarmed and participating in a peaceful voting rights march in his city, he was beaten by troopers and fatally shot by an Alabama state trooper. Jackson died eight days later in the hospital.

J. L. Chestnut Jr. was an author, attorney, and a figure in the Civil Rights Movement. He was the first African-American attorney in Selma, Alabama, and the author of the 1991 autobiographical book, Black in Selma: The Uncommon Life of J.L. Chestnut, Jr., which chronicles the history of the Selma Voting Rights Movement, including the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches and Bloody Sunday.

<i>Golden Boy</i> (musical) Musical

Golden Boy is a 1964 musical with a book by Clifford Odets and William Gibson, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi Goddam</span> 1964 song written and performed by Nina Simone

"Mississippi Goddam" is a song written and performed by American singer and pianist Nina Simone, who later announced the anthem to be her "first civil rights song". The song was released on her album Nina Simone in Concert in 1964, which was based on recordings of three concerts she gave at Carnegie Hall earlier that year. The album was her first release for the Dutch label Philips Records and is indicative of the more political turn her recorded music took during this period.

<i>A Broadway Musical</i> Musical

A Broadway Musical is a musical with a book by William F. Brown, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. The Broadway production closed after 14 previews and only one performance on December 21, 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City of St. Jude</span> United States historic place

The City of St. Jude is a 36-acre (15 ha) campus in Montgomery, Alabama, hosting a high school, hospital, and Catholic church. It was founded in 1934 by Fr Harold Purcell with the aim of bringing "light, hope and dignity to the poor," regardless of race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Pettus Bridge</span> Historic bridge in Selma, Alabama, United States

The Edmund Pettus Bridge carries U.S. Route 80 Business across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama. Built in 1940, it is named after Edmund Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general, U.S. senator, and state-level leader of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. The bridge is a steel through arch bridge with a central span of 250 feet (76 m). Nine large concrete arches support the bridge and roadway on the east side.

Walter Marks is an American songwriter, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is probably best known for his song "I've Gotta Be Me", recorded by Sammy Davis Jr, Tony Bennett, Michael Jackson and many others. He has also written songs recorded by Barbra Streisand, The Temptations, Della Reese, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, and other artists.

<i>Selma</i> (film) 2014 film by Ava DuVernay

Selma is a 2014 historical drama film directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Paul Webb. It is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches which were initiated and directed by James Bevel and led by Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams, and John Lewis. The film stars actors David Oyelowo as King, Tom Wilkinson as President Lyndon B. Johnson, Tim Roth as George Wallace, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King, and Common as Bevel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sammy Younge Jr.</span> American activist

Samuel Leamon Younge Jr. was a civil rights and voting rights activist who was murdered for trying to desegregate a "whites only" restroom. Younge was an enlisted service member in the United States Navy, where he served for two years before being medically discharged. Younge was an active member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a leader of the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League.

This is a timeline of the civil rights movement in the United States, a nonviolent mid-20th century freedom movement to gain legal equality and the enforcement of constitutional rights for people of color. The goals of the movement included securing equal protection under the law, ending legally institutionalized racial discrimination, and gaining equal access to public facilities, education reform, fair housing, and the ability to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Sullivan</span> American actress (born 1937)

Sheila Rae Sullivan is a Broadway actress and singer.

References

  1. ↑ Ebony. Negro Digest Publishing Company, Incorporated. 2008. p. 58.
  2. ↑ Philip Benjamin (5 April 1965). "'Broadway Answers Selma' Nets $150,000 for Civil Rights Fight". The New York Times . Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Emilie Raymond (8 June 2015). Stars for Freedom: Hollywood, Black Celebrities, and the Civil Rights Movement. University of Washington Press. p. 195. ISBN   978-0-295-80607-5.
  4. ↑ Paul Krassner (1971). How a Satirical Editor Became a Yippie Conspirator in Ten Easy Years. Putnam. p. 123.
  5. 1 2 Brian Ward (6 July 1998). Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations. University of California Press. p. 314. ISBN   978-0-520-21298-5.
  6. 1 2 Wil Haygood (28 May 2014). In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 366. ISBN   978-0-8041-7252-3.
  7. ↑ Critical Digest: The NYC Theatre Newsletter Digest Service. T.M. Kraus. 1965. p. 27.
  8. 1 2 Johnson Publishing Company (22 April 1965). Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. p. 63.
  9. ↑ Coda. John Norris. 1967. p. 7.
  10. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (3 April 1965). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 10.{{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.