(Credit: Bettmann)ĭuring the height of the Cold War in the late 1950s, the U.S. “I think I have a right to get sore and say something about it.”Īrmstrong is carried in triumph into Brazzaville’s Beadouin Stadium during his African tour. “I feel the downtrodden situation the same as any other Negro,” Armstrong later said of his decision to speak out. Some whites even called for boycotts of the trumpeter’s shows, but the controversy soon blew over after Eisenhower sent soldiers to desegregate the schools in Little Rock. The comments caused a sensation in the media. government-sponsored tour of the Soviet Union. Eisenhower was “two-faced” and had “no guts” for not stepping in, and declared that he would no longer play a U.S. When asked about the crisis in an interview, Armstrong replied, “The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell.” He added that President Dwight D. At the time, a group of black students known as the “Little Rock Nine” were being prevented from attending an all-white high school in Arkansas. Eisenhower over segregation.Īrmstrong’s hesitancy to speak out against racism was a frequent bone of contention with his fellow black entertainers, some of whom branded him an “Uncle Tom.” In 1957, however, he famously let loose over segregation.
Armstrong famously criticized President Dwight D. His marriage to Hardin, meanwhile, proved less successful-the couple divorced in 1938.Ħ. The OKeh recordings would later play a key role in establishing Armstrong as a legendary figure in jazz. Between 19, he and his backup bands, the Hot Five and Hot Seven, went on to cut several dozen records that introduced the world to his improvisational trumpet solos and trademark scat singing.
Only a few days after he arrived back in Chicago, OKeh Records allowed him to make his first recordings under his own name. She even demanded that he be billed as “The World’s Greatest Trumpet Player.” Armstrong was hesitant at first, but it turned out to be the best move of his career.
In 1925, while Armstrong was performing in New York, Hardin went behind his back and inked a deal with Chicago’s Dreamland Café to make him a featured act. He was largely content to be a journeyman musician, but his second wife, a pianist named Lil Hardin, believed he was too talented not have his own band. (Credit: Gilles Petard/Redferns)Īfter leaving New Orleans in 1922, Armstrong spent three years playing in jazz ensembles in Chicago and Harlem. Armstrong and his Hot Five band-his then-wife Lil is on the right.
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