Graham W. Jackson in tears playing “Goin’ Home” for funeral train of President Franklin D. Roosevelt of which he was a close personal friend. ????
Born in 1903, Graham W. Jackson was a writer and performer who was well versed with the organ, the piano, accordion, and as a choral conductor. He rose to prominence after he was featured at the Royal Theatre and at Bailey’s “81.”
Through his performances he went on to join the faculty at Washington High School in Atlanta where he served as its music director until 1940.
He became close personal friends with Eleanor and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Jackson and Roosevelt were even collaborating at the Little White House on a version of Dvorak’s “Goin’ Home” the day before FDR’s death. This photo shows Jackson playing the same song as Roosevelt’s funeral train left Warm Springs. Later, when speaking about the photo Jackson said:
The photographer stumbled over my foot and looked up. He saw my face and saw those tears coming down my cheek, and he just reached around on his shoulder and got one of his cameras and – blip – and thought no more of it.
It’s strange to think that anyone ever believed that Muhammad Ali was truly down for the count. After becoming a vocal defender of civil rights in the 1960s and changing his name to reflect his new Islamic beliefs, America turned on Ali.
When he refused to take part in military service during the Vietnam War he was stripped of his boxing titles and he was banned from taking part in the sport he loved… all for speaking his mind.
Ali re-entered the sport he so loved on October 26, 1970, to face boxer Jerry Quarry. Ali took the man down in three rounds and officially announced that the king was back. This photo shows that many of Ali’s youngest fans never abandoned him, and that no matter what race they were they saw him as a true American hero.
In 1969, Mr.Rogers invited Officer Clemmons to join him and cool his feet in a pool, breaking down a well-known race barrier. This photo was recreated in Clemmons final episode in 1993. ??
Francois Clemmons is one of the first African-Americans to get a recurring role on television playing “Officer Clemmons” on the PBS television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood from 1968 to 1993.
Clemmons’ first appearance was in 1969, at the height of the Civil Rights movement, when he shared a foot bath with Mr. Rogers. As forward thinking as this was, Clemmons did have to keep his homosexuality under wraps, something that must have been painful to Clemmons. However, he said that he went along with Rogers’ request to keep the show from being mired in scandal:
I didn’t want to be a scandal to utah sugar daddy websites the show. I didn’t want to hurt the man who was giving me so much, and I also knew the value as a black performer of having this show, this platform. Black actors and actresses-SAG and Equity-90 percent of them are not working. If you know that and here you are, on a national platform you’re gonna sabotage yourself?
These two people met at Woodstock in 1969, and have been together for exactly 50 years
It’s amazing to think that this couple has been together for 50 years, but it’s even crazier to know that they first met on the road to Woodstock. While speaking to People Magazine, Judy explained that she never would have met her husband, Jerry, if it weren’t for her car breaking down on the way to the festival. She explained: