Today In Black History: Ed Sullivan
His show promoted Black artists in the 1950s and 1960s when other shows would not.
Issue #612 Today In Black History, Thursday, May 23, 2024
Please share and subscribe to help us grow this publication.
If you like us, REALLY like us, please click the “Like” button at the end of this post!
Also, please scroll to the end of this post for other ways to financially support us and We Are Speaking with our books and courses.
We appreciate your support!
Today’s Black History WOW!
Ed Sullivan was a pioneering figure in the world of television and entertainment. Born in Harlem, New York on September 28, 1901, Sullivan started his career as a journalist and sportswriter before transitioning into hosting and producing television shows.
Sullivan was also a respected Broadway producer and a supporter of the arts. He received multiple awards for his contributions to entertainment, including a Peabody Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Sullivan is best known for hosting "The Ed Sullivan Show," which aired from 1948 to 1971. The variety show featured a wide range of acts, from comedians and musicians to dancers and acrobats. Sullivan's show was a major platform for up-and-coming talent, and he famously introduced American audiences to acts like The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and The Jackson 5.
The “Ed Sullivan Show” was on the air during the height of the civil rights movement and when segregation was still the law of the land and discriminatory policies were prevalent.
Because he was born when Irish immigrants were often discriminated against, and his wife was Jewish, Sullivan had a deeper understanding of the discrimination faced by African Americans.
Earlier in his life, he was a serious athlete and probably encountered Black men on the sporting field, which may have taught him not to view anyone as inferior.
As a talent producer, Sullivan also spent considerable time digesting the Black talent in Harlem and via the “chitlin’ circuit,” which led him to introduce Black entertainers and groups on his show when most other outlets would not.
From the time of Emmitt Till’s murder in 1955, through the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968, Ed Sullivan showcased Black entertainers on his show, giving them the same level of exposure and respect as the white acts of the time.
The Ed Sullivan Show included Black artists and performers of every genre, including opera singers Leontyne Price, Shirley Verrett, and Marian Anderson to vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Leslie Uggams, Mahalia Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, Clara Ward and her gospel singers, and of course Motown Acts like the Supremes, the Temptations, and the Jackson Five.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, little white girls, like many little Black girls, were going crazy about the Jackson Five. In response, singer Andy Williams decided to promote on his show a little-known group of singers called “The Osmonds,” especially the young boy in the group, Donny Osmond. The Osmonds were white and very religious, and it was hoped that little white girls would fawn over them instead of over the Jackson Five. It didn’t work.
Ed Sullivan was a close friend of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the tap dancer who was once the biggest Black star in Hollywood, but near the end of his life was destitute. Sullivan arranged the funeral service for a Robinson in a manner that strongly suggested that this Black man was worthy of a grand send-off.
Mr. Sullivan, a white man, kissed Pearl Bailey on the cheek and shook the hand of Nat “King” Cole, on his TV show, knowing such gestures would savagely anger many White viewers, especially those in the American South. Sullivan didn’t care.
The Ed Sullivan Show was the longest-running variety program in American TV history, and Mr. Sullivan became a star as big as the biggest stars he had on that program. His show introduction, “…a really big SHEW!” became part of the American lexicon.
In 1970, while the country was still so racially and politically divided, and less than two years after the assassination of Dr. King, Sullivan invited Mrs. Coretta Scott King, MLK’s widow, to appear on his show.
Mrs. King introduced clips from two of her late husband’s most famous speeches. Ed Sullivan greeted Mrs. King at the end, kissed her on the cheek, and grabbed her hand, at a time when many white people believed that white people and Black people should not even touch each other.
Ed Sullivan could have lived a life of white male privilege and power, ignoring what was happening around him. Instead, he chose a path of purpose, of substance, and using his platform to show America what it could and should be.
Ed Sullivan died on October 13, 1974. His funeral was attended by 2,000 people at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.
Today In Black History
In 1861, Virginia voted to secede from the Union.
In 1871, Black inventor L. Bell patented a version of the smoke stack.
In 1900, Sgt. William H. Carney of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment became the first African American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery.
In 1992, President George H.W. Bush ordered the Coast Guard to intercept boats carrying Haitian refugees.
In 2019, the Clotilda, which sunk in 1860 and was the last ship to smuggle Africans to America to be sold as slaves was found in the Mobile River in Alabama.
Our paid subscribers are encouraged to discuss this post in our W.A.S. Chat Community.
the You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.
This post is free to read for three days. To have access 365/24/7 to our full archive, comment on our posts, and financially support “We Are Speaking” for no more than $5 per month, please subscribe at the paid level. You will receive a 7-day FREE trial!
Independent Authors and Creative Professionals: Branding and Marketing Courses and Networking Groups are available in the GCC Branding and Marketing Academy!
Pam’s Business Books and Keith’s SciFi Books are available for purchase here!