The Role of Louis Armstrong in The Civil Rights Movement

Jazz music and the Civil Rights Movement are directly linked to one another because in the world of jazz, only the ability to play one’s instrument mattered, while everything else was irrelevant. Jazz music was insanely popular and appealed to the masses despite differences in race and gender. The music helped forge a link between black and white people, bringing them together for the simple enjoyment of art. The effects of jazz music broke down social barriers, greatly influencing and shaping the Civil Rights Movement into the success that it was. Martin Luther King Jr even spoke on the importance of jazz in the movement, stating, “jazz speaks for life. The blues tell a story of life’s difficulties…they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph”. Louis Armstrong, one of the most prominent figures in jazz, played a role in the movement throughout his career. Armstrong faced racial discrimination himself, he was also at times outspoken but, he was controversial in the jazz community for not using his status more often to help take a stronger stand against problems that the black community faced.

Louis Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans in 1901. He grew up poor, powerless, and did not have an easy life leading up to his stardom. His career lasted about fifty years, from the early 1920s to the 1960s. He was highly talented and a very charismatic performer. Armstrong was an influential trumpet player and beautiful singer with a rich voice. He also shifted the attention from collective improvisation to that of solo improvisation, changing the direction of jazz music. Armstrong was no stranger to racism and learned from a very young age that opposing racism would only cause him harm and bring trouble his way. He was born in a tense time after the Robert Charles Riots of 1900, where African American Robert Charles shot a police officer for harassing him. Racial tensions between white and black folks went through the roof following that incident. However, something that made him stand out from other jazz musicians is that he was celebrated and embraced amongst white people despite the social climate of the time and the fact that many of them viewed him as an inferior person.

From the very beginning of his career, Armstrong was faced with the harsh reality of racism. In his early days, when he played music with a band on riverboat to a predominantly white audience, he experienced the segregation between whites and blacks very clearly. Although there was a strong connection between him and the audience, there still was a gap between them that could not be bridged. Despite the fact that the audience deeply enjoyed his creative melodies and felt moved and emotionally connected to the music, it did not evoke enough compassion in them to treat him and his band members any better than how they were normally treated. After their performances, the African American members of the band “were not allowed to mingle with the white guests under any circumstances” (Armstrong). Shockingly enough, Armstrong even went on to claim that he “never had any hard feelings” for the way he was treated by his white audience, and further went on to say that he has “always loved his white folks, and they have always proved that they loved him and his music” (Armstrong). These claims about how he felt about the segregation he experienced and his white audience, obviously did not sit well with his African American audience and other black jazz musicians, causing outrage. Armstrong’s inaction and overall political neutrality on such issues due to his internalized fear of speaking out is what largely alienated him from the jazz community. They wanted him to take a much firmer stance on the discrimination that African American people experienced on a daily basis, especially because he was favored by white people and had such a large reach. The black community did not like the fact that he did very little to exercise his status within the white community to bring about social change.

However, Armstrong viewed being openly confrontational to discrimination and prejudice as a dangerous act to commit. Armstrong felt that being subservient to white people, was an unfortunately necessary evil in order for him to live successfully and happily. He found that the only way to reap the benefits of success and be protected was if there was “a white captain to back you in the old days” (Armstrong). Louis Armstrong even recounts how he had to suppress his rage when his white manager, Johnny Collins, referred to him using a racial slur. Despite wanting to “bash his obscenity brains out…But it’s a different story. It’s a white man. So I don’t obscenity with Johnny”, he held himself back in order to prevent trouble being brought onto him. He willingly silenced himself because at the time he was not an established person with enough power to take a stand against a white man. Armstrong maintained this silence and never spoke out about political issues until much later in his career, once he was already an established artist and had a reputation within the white community.

One instance of Louis Armstrong exercising his influence as a way to protest, is when he wrote a letter to the president of the United States in 1957, voicing his displeasure with their action. Armstrong criticized President Dwight Eisenhower’s inaction on supporting Brown vs. Board of Education’s decision in desegregation of schools, to allow nine African American students to attend Little Rock Central High School. His silence on such a huge issue in American society at the time allowed for resistance to the law. Armstrong’s unexpected harsh criticisms held a lot of weight and had a huge impact on the Eisenhower administration and contributed greatly to the Civil Rights Movement. Out of anger towards the way his people were being treated in the south, he referred to President Eisenhower as someone who was “‘two faced,’ and had ‘no guts’”. He even went as far as to cancel his goodwill tour in Russia, stating that “the way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell” as a way to protest. Armstrong’s vocalization of his disapproval of the resistance to desegregation largely contradicts the claims that many people thought he was an Uncle Tom and had long ago turned his back on being a voice for his black audience. Furthermore, Armstrong was always one to embrace his culture and never sold out to his white audience. He maintained his personality, fashion, hairstyle, music style and never gave into the white standard. In the early 1930s, he refused to straighten his hair as a way to appeal to his white audience, staying true to his roots. Musically, Armstrong maintained his individuality in a world where being different was not welcomed, and never failed to be himself.

Louis Armstrong not only transcended boundaries but also helped push American society forward in a positive direction. His unique ability to connect with his largely racist white audience gave way to a better future. Armstrong exposed to white people that African American’s are just, if not more talented than the average white person. He was a captivating and talented performer, with a beautiful singing voice, impressive trumpet playing skills, and had a lively personality. However, due to a rough childhood centering around racism, his fear of white brutality and punishment for being black, led him to being very silent on racial issues for a large part of his career. The black community looked down on him because of his seemingly neutral stance on racism. Many viewed him as someone who did not care about the issues that black people faced but, he did in fact care. Armstrong went as far as calling out the president of the United States at the time, encouraging the desegregation of schools. However, he felt that there were other ways of confronting discrimination that did not involve directly speaking on them, and that is what he did for a large part of his career. Through his music he normalized and, in a way, desensitized African American people to that of Caucasian people. He conveyed to an audience who largely opposed who he was due to his skin color, that black people were not the enemy, that they could be just as funny, charismatic, talented, and as amazing as he was. He cultivated a space through music, where white and black people could connect with each other despite their differences. Armstrong cared deeply about his race, even though he rarely showed his support using his voice, he resisted conforming to white popular culture and stuck to his roots. Therefore, Louis Armstrong is one of the many jazz musicians who played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement, using his music and making political statements to help facilitate change.