Fighting Racism, One Gig at a Time

Contributed by Warner N. Sabio Sr.

As Erroll Garner successfully mounted what would become a stellar musical career, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States was gaining attention and support. From about the mid-1940s through the early-70s, the demand for racial equality and social justice gained momentum across the country. The collective action and agitation saw activists and their supporters make huge gains. The repercussions would cause a political and social shift throughout the U.S. and across the world. Artists, musicians, and actors were not immune to the call of activism, and many found ways to contribute to the cause.

For Garner, the fight against racial inequality and segregation was both personal and professional. Garner’s support for the Civil Rights movement took a variety of shapes. He contributed financially to organizations such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and other Civil Rights groups. His efforts also included participating in benefit concerts that helped raise funds for these organizations. For example, on September 8, 1964, Garner participated in a fundraiser for SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), and the NAACP. The event took place at the home of baseball legend Jackie Robinson in Stamford, CT. It featured Garner and Gerry Mulligan, Quincy Jones, Horace Silver, Herbie Mann, Sal Salvador, Billy Taylor, Wes Montgomery, Clark Terry, Tyree Glenn, and Joe Williams.[1]

Garner also took on bigotry directly in the concert hall and in performances around the country. Garner dismantled racial segregation through the strategic use of a contractual clause with concert presenters that explicitly prohibited segregating the audience. By contractually establishing a firm stance on discrimination and intolerance, Garner took on racism in the U.S., one concert at a time.

Garner sparkles in his support of the NAACP

On Monday, March 23, 1953, Erroll Garner took part in a star-studded benefit held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The event was the NAACP’s Second Annual “Big Nite,” which featured a host of artists from cinema, TV, radio, and theater. Joining Garner and his trio were Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, W.C. Handy, Ossie Davis, Eartha Kitt, the Nicholas Brothers, Danny Thomas, Ed Sullivan, Imogene Coca, and Pearl Primus, along with other entertainers that came together to raise money for the organization.[2] According to the Amsterdam News, the arena was filled with 10,000 supporters and well-wishers surrounded by large banners announcing, “FOR A FREE AMERICA,” “JIM CROW MUST GO … NOW.”

On July 13, 1953, Rufus W. Smith, chairman of the Madison Square Garden benefit, wrote to Garner, by way of Martha Glaser, thanking him for his performance and donation. Smith stated, “Your participation in our Second Annual Madison Square Garden Benefit was indeed an enjoyable occasion to the thousands present. Your performance was a highlight to the occasion.”

Enclosed was a receipt dated June 22, 1953, for Garner’s contribution, in the form of a refund, of $107.25 to the organization. The amount was likely a refund of Garner’s own performance fee, which may have been contractually required by musicians’ union regulations. The value of that contribution today, adjusted for inflation, would be approximately $1,046.

The Clause

Garner was no stranger to this fight. He quietly made efforts to take on segregation and to push for equality and racial harmony in his personal and professional life, as detailed by his manager Martha Glaser. Shortly after he died in 1977, Glaser responded to a February 10, 1977 obituary in Rolling Stone magazine. Writing to the editors, Glaser noted that “Garner also had a clause in his contracts BEFORE the 1954 Supreme Court decision, forbidding segregation of any kind in the audience, backstage, facilities, etc., at any appearance. He always wanted a ‘salt and pepper’ audience…He did it without fanfare or awards.”

The background behind this clause may have also had origins in Glaser’s own professional work. Years before teaming up with Garner, Glaser worked for jazz record producer and concert promoter Norman Granz. Granz had established a concert series known as “Jazz at the Philharmonic,” which toured around the country. As part of his efforts to combat discrimination and prejudice, Granz used the concerts to address segregation, discrimination in accommodations, and onstage racial integration.

Some hailed Granz’s efforts to fight discrimination through his Jazz at the Philharmonic. According to Tad Hershorn, an archivist at the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies and author of the book Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice, “The Pittsburgh Courier applauded another ‘significantly important precedent’ established by Jazz at the Philharmonic: the nondiscrimination clause Granz had inserted in his contracts.”[3]

Garner’s clause prohibited segregation of the audience and facilities used by Garner and his accompanists, including accommodations, transportation, and restaurants. Garner used the succinctly worded clause until about the early ’70s when he and Glaser removed it from later contracts.[5] For Garner and Glaser, the clause was just one small but pivotal act in their efforts to subvert and disassemble segregation and support the call for civil rights in the United States.  

Conclusion

As we can see from the examples mentioned above, the fight for Civil Rights was not just limited to Garner's personal life. Garner leveraged his clout as an outstanding musician to agitate for meaningful and necessary social change. Like other artists, musicians, and celebrities, Garner embraced the spirit, ideas, and mores of the Civil Rights Movement and applied it to his vocation. By financially supporting organizations such as the NAACP – through donations or by performing at charity events – and by adopting the anti-discrimination clause and adding it to his performance contracts, Garner, with the help of Glaser, quietly and effectively took on racial discrimination and inequality in the United States.

[1] Ingrid Monson, Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 203.

[2] “All Roads Lead to Madison Square Monday: Stars Will Shine at NAACP 'Great Night'” New York Amsterdam News (1943-1961), City edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]21 Mar 1953: 26; Alvin Chick Webb, “There Were Stars Galore at NAACP Benefit: Canada Would've Loved NAACP's 'Great Night,' ”New York Amsterdam News (1943-1961), City edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]28 Mar 1953: 28.

[3] Tad Hershorn, Norman Granz : The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), 83.

[4] Hershorn, Norman Granz, 83.

[5] This information is based on the examination of contracts found in the archive.