Union Activism
America throughout much of the 20th Century was a country which was racially divided. Chris Albertson, producer of the "Living Legends" series, recalls an incident in 1961 with a Black musician, McNeal Breaux, during recording of the "Living Legends" series in 1961: " owned a restaurant and invited Dave and me to have dinner there, but we had to enter through the back door, because of our color." Starting in his teens, Cottrell worked diligently to organize the Colored Musicians Union as a chapter of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 496. He would be elected president in 1956. He was as well known for seeking equitable treatment for musicians as for his music. Cottrell was able to see firsthand the fruits of his labor. Doug Ramsey wrote, "shortly before he died, told a friend how happy he was that New Orleans had finally become a city where he and other musicians like him could make a living playing as they wanted to play.
Read more about this topic: Louis Cottrell, Jr.
Famous quotes containing the word union:
“The sacred obligation to the Union soldiers must not—will not be forgotten nor neglected.... But those who fought against the Nation cannot and do not look to it for relief.... Confederate soldiers and their descendants are to share with us and our descendants the destiny of America. Whatever, therefore, we their fellow citizens can do to remove burdens from their shoulders and to brighten their lives is surely in the pathway of humanity and patriotism.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)