It Was All a Dream…Pittsburgh Musicians Local 471: Collective Memory and Alternate Truths by Johnathan Jevon White B.A. Polit
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It Was All a Dream…Pittsburgh Musicians Local 471: Collective Memory and Alternate Truths by Johnathan JeVon White B.A. Political Science, Clark Atlanta University, 1996 M.A. History, University of Pittsburgh, 2001 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2020 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Johnathan JeVon White It was defended on November 24, 2020 and approved by Dr. Laurence Glasco, Associate Professor, Department of History Dr. Lara Putnam, Professor, Department of History Dr. Robert Ruck, Professor, Department of History Dr. Aaron Johnson, Assistant Professor, Department of Music Dissertation Directors: Dr. Laurence Glasco Associate Professor, Department of History Dr. Lara Putnam, Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © by Johnathan JeVon White 2020 iii It Was All a Dream…Pittsburgh Musicians Local 471: Collective Memories and Alternate Truths Johnathan JeVon White, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2020 This project documents the history of Pittsburgh’s Black Musicians Local 471, founded in 1908. In 1966, Local 471 merged with white musicians Local 60, forming Local 60-471. Surviving members of Local 471, primarily jazz artists, expressed the deleterious effects of the merger, complaining, among other things, of discriminatory treatment and marginalization. In 1971, seeking equity, some pursued legal action. Ultimately, the courts did not rule in their favor, leaving bittersweet memories of this period. In oral testimonies, many former members of 471 reminisced about the Musicians Club, a social and networking space that flourished during the 1940s and 1950s. While many of them were less engaged in the business affairs of the Local 471, they recalled the vibrancy of the pre-integration entertainment scene and bemoaned the loss of their union and its beloved Musicians Club. Urban Renewal and gentrification of the Lower Hill District, as well as the merger, were watershed moments. Most 471 members felt that racial integration of the two unions sounded the death knell for the autonomy, lush life, and economic opportunity they had long enjoyed. This study’s methodology juxtaposes the collected remembrances of Local 471 members with an analysis of primary sources, providing alternate interpretations of the pre- and post- integration eras. What emerges is a complex portrait of the peak and demise of Local 471. Changing demographics and social conditions, shifting tastes in popular music, the internal iv affairs of Local 471, and technological innovations, as well as racism, all shaped the fates of black musicians. This project revealed no singular master narrative of the past. Collective memories at times converged and conflicted with other evidence. Questions emerged as to why certain memories and interpretations of the past took hold. Through their nostalgic streams of consciousness depicting both a dreamy and painful past, 471 members created social history from below. These collected memories, constituting “alternate truths,” expand and enrich our understanding of the past. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: The Early Years: 1908-1939 ......................................................................................... 20 Chapter 3: The “Golden Years” ..................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 4: The Demise of Local 471 ............................................................................................. 96 Chapter 5: Recalling the Merger ................................................................................................. 140 Chapter 6: The Lawsuit and the Memories ................................................................................ 170 Chapter 7: Chuck Austin: Master Narrator ................................................................................. 202 Chapter 8: Supporting the Master Narrative .............................................................................. 224 Chapter 9: Counter Narratives .................................................................................................... 259 Chapter 10: Epilogue ................................................................................................................... 303 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 317 vi Acknowledgements This project is dedicated to the memory of Chuck Austin, Ruby Young, Frank McCown, John Hughes, and Hosea Taylor. First, I thank God for the opportunity and the strength to complete this work. I’m grateful to my parents who showed me the bar is always excellence; their love is always unconditional. I thank my sister for paving the way for her older brother; I thank my brother for never wavering in his belief in me. I’m grateful to the History Department at the University of Pittsburgh—they shaped, edified, guided, and made me into a scholar. My gratitude to my committee: Dr. Larry Glasco, Dr. Lara Putnam, Dr. Rob Ruck, Dr. Aaron Johnson—you believed in me, you never let me give up, and you always told me the truth. Dr. Glasco – you never abandoned me during my lowest moments. That means the world. I’m grateful for my colleagues at PSUGA who encouraged and waited on me to do what you already knew I could do. To my friends: you are too numerous to name and too valuable to neglect any by attempting a list. Thank you for prayers and for not letting me run away from my dream. Thank you for loving me before and after the dissertation. vii Thank you to the African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh. Thank you for lending me your stories. Thank you Mr. Austin, Mr. Hughes, Ms. Young, Dr. Clark, Mr. McCown, Mr. Taylor, Dr. Foley, Dave, and Dana … Local 471 – This is your story. I am only a scribe. viii Chapter 1: Introduction “People lie when they write. It’s better to talk sometimes.” --Alyce Brooks Pianist Alyce Brooks captured the zeitgeist of this work. In a 1997 interview, Ms. Brooks said that when people write their own life story they sometimes lean toward embellishment and exaggeration. However, she added, there is something about conversation that purifies memory and causes one to give voice to something closer to the truth.1 Brooks’ theory on telling our stories intrigued me. This is a study about living histories, about the potent and vivacious nature of oral testimony and group remembrance. When historians want to document the past, they often look for written sources because these are considered concrete, solid, reliable. However, Brooks’ assertion suggests that there is something inescapably “truthful” about oral testimony—even if our imperfect memories may birth spoken words not always perfectly “factual.” In the act of recalling, people reconstruct the past. They create versions of historical events that become their truths, the interpretations needed to satisfy in that moment. I remember a conversation with an elderly member of my church, who said that, out of all the presidents he had seen in his lifetime, “FDR was the best, hands down.” The conviction with which he said it startled me. There was no written historical evidence I could have offered to wrench him from his truth. He displayed certitude. He reminded me of the subjects of this research. Their memories of events were recalled as unassailable truths—declarations of what 1 Alyce Brooks, African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh, interview by female (unidentified on the audio recording) June 24, 1997, audio, Archives Services Center, University of Pittsburgh. 1 it was like to live during a past age. They are the living past. As I immersed myself in this project, I was struck by the power of collective memory to coalesce into perceived truths. Even conflicting memories of similar events could all stake claims to reality. Multiple truths can occupy the same space at the same time. What became clear during this study is that humans are affirmed when they tell their story about how they have navigated time and space. Memories as spoken may become the moorings that anchor us to the present, connect us to the past, and keep the future from washing away evidence that we exist. Oral testimonies are history in real time—rife with biases perhaps, but maybe no more or less than written statements. In essence, Brooks was saying there is empowerment in oral testimony. This study seeks to gather memories from oral testimonies and measure them against memories from written sources. Local 471 is the test case for this experiment. I am seeking understanding of written and oral mediums as they merge and evolve. This study examines a time period replete with significant events, with multiple storylines vying for attention. There was the rise and fall of Local 471, Pittsburgh’s union for Black musicians. There was America’s sin of Jim Crow and the difficulty of shedding its legacies. There is the story of what Black Pittsburghers built: an entertainment mecca sometimes referred to as the crossroads between New York and Chicago. There