I went to a Rolling Stones concert at Auburn University in 1969, their Sympathy for the Devil tour, and the opening act was Chuck Berry.
It was scheduled for 8:00 or 9:00 pm, but no one showed up onstage. Everyone sat there chattering and fidgeting. Around 10:45 pm, there was an announcement on the loudspeaker, that the "young women of Auburn University" must observe their 11:00 pm curfew, and report back to their dorms. You can imagine the shrieks and groans, but the proper southern ladies obediently left and some of their boyfriends left also to escort them.
I was in my 20s and was there with my husband, who was stationed at a nearby base preparing to go to Vietnam. Although it would be a spectacularly memorable evening, I sincerely do not recall if there were blacks as well as whites in the crowd—we were military, had previously been living up north, and to us it would have been a feature, not a bug. We rushed forward to grab a couple of the vacated seats in the front row.
Chuck Berry soon appeared to rock the house, and he was the best part of the program, better than the Stones who would follow him. We stood at the rim of the stage with several other young people and rested our arms on the stage near his feet, slapping along with the beat. He was an awesome performer and made friendly but not salacious eye contact with those of us within inches of him.
Everyone just assumed that the delay was the fault of the Stones, who were notoriously late. It never occurred to me that Chuck's appearance might have been manipulated so the white southern girls didn't get to see Chuck. That's just horrible to think about.
See post 34...
Yes. Notoriously late.
You’re unaware of a Chucks mercurial personality and his tendency to wait to go onstage for his money first...
And I hate to break it to you...but Chuck had a thing for young white girls...sometimes too young....
He shared both those traits with his brother of another color Jerry Lee Lewis
I saw black acts all my life in Mississippi in the 1960s and nothing like that ever happened
I know I know northerners know better on race...
Funny I could never figure that ....living in Manhattan in the 80s enjoying the pristine views from the Major Deegan
Shucks today would I rather be a poor black agri grunt in rural Mississippi or a black slum dweller in south Chicago or Cleveland or Detroit
I know the answer to that...
What always strikes me is how the south runs 20-90% black about everywhere except Appalachia
And the north rarely over a few points except in big cities
Yet which today has more issues with blacks ...
Ever examine where the Wilson era klan was strongest
No question the south resisted segregation and in white minority areas I don’t blame them...what would you do in a county 80% black?
I can tell you you don’t send your daughters to private schools
Hard realities sorry to beak it to u and I’m fresh out of give a shit
The universities were never like that, in that day anyway, so I kind of doubt that story is true. I saw Ray Charles in 1960 at Yale. The place was packed and one guy even tried dancing but was soon ushered back to his seat.