1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960
Speaker 1: This Day in History Class as a production of I

2
00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:10,440
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,920
Speaker 1: a show that gives a quick look. It's something that

4
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,720
Speaker 1: happened a long time ago. Today I'm Gabelusier, and today

5
00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,720
Speaker 1: we're looking at the time when the fear of interracial

6
00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:26,360
Speaker 1: socializing led one California town to outlaw the most popular

7
00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:36,800
Speaker 1: music in the country. The day was June three, fifty six.

8
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 1: The town of Santa Cruz, California, issued a blanket band

9
00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,680
Speaker 1: on the performance of rock and roll at public gatherings.

10
00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,959
Speaker 1: The decision was made by police Chief Al Huntsman at

11
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,720
Speaker 1: the suggestion of one of his officers, Lieutenant Richard Overton.

12
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,560
Speaker 1: According to Overton, rock music and the dancing it inspired

13
00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 1: was quote detrimental to both the health and morals of

14
00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 1: our youth and community. In the days that followed, though,

15
00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,040
Speaker 1: it became clear that the true target of the city's

16
00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,120
Speaker 1: band was in rock and roll so much as the

17
00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 1: black musicians who played it. The city's band was prompted

18
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,800
Speaker 1: by a concert held on the evening of June two.

19
00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,759
Speaker 1: That Saturday night, about two teenagers packed the hall at

20
00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,680
Speaker 1: the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium to see an l A

21
00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,959
Speaker 1: rock group called Chuck Higgins and the Mellow Tones. The

22
00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,919
Speaker 1: band had scored a regional hit with their song Pachuco Hop,

23
00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,720
Speaker 1: and kids from all over the area had turned out

24
00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,040
Speaker 1: to see it live. We're a little late to make

25
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,000
Speaker 1: the dance ourselves, but here's a clip from the band's

26
00:01:45,120 --> 00:02:17,760
Speaker 1: Nino recording. The All African American band performed that evening

27
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:22,120
Speaker 1: for a racially integrated crowd of white, black, and Hispanic teens,

28
00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:25,680
Speaker 1: many of whom had come to Santa Cruz from nearby Watsonville.

29
00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,040
Speaker 1: The concert was scheduled to end at one a m.

30
00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,600
Speaker 1: But about twenty minutes after midnight, Lieutenant Richard Overton arrived

31
00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,320
Speaker 1: at the venue and quickly decided he had heard and

32
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,280
Speaker 1: seen enough. With the help of some other officers, Overton

33
00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,360
Speaker 1: shut down the concert half an hour early and cleared

34
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,840
Speaker 1: the hall. In his official report, Overton was clear about

35
00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 1: the source of his displeasure. There had been no sign

36
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,560
Speaker 1: of alcohol or drug use, no rough housing, no fighting.

37
00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,400
Speaker 1: The problem, according to him, was that the music had

38
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,440
Speaker 1: quote excited the c out to passion, leading some young

39
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:10,120
Speaker 1: couples to make highly suggestive, stimulating and tantalizing motions. Apparently,

40
00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:15,119
Speaker 1: the teen's dancing was so fiercely erotic that Overton quote

41
00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:20,280
Speaker 1: feared the crowd might become uncontrollable. The police chief backed

42
00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,640
Speaker 1: up Overton's decision, and the next day Rock and Roll

43
00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:28,080
Speaker 1: was declared off limits for future dances. Not long after,

44
00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,160
Speaker 1: wire services across the country picked up on the outrageous

45
00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:37,400
Speaker 1: news about the California town that outlawed Rock and Roll. Suddenly,

46
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:40,640
Speaker 1: the police department was flooded with calls from out of

47
00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,920
Speaker 1: town reporters dying to know more about the band. Meanwhile,

48
00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,840
Speaker 1: a backlash was brewing inside the town as well. Many

49
00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,640
Speaker 1: teenagers picked up on their racial overtones of the city's response.

50
00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,440
Speaker 1: Some high schoolers were so outraged by the band that

51
00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,120
Speaker 1: they organized a protest at the district attorney office, while

52
00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,840
Speaker 1: others wrote letters pushing back against the accepted narrative. One

53
00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,000
Speaker 1: sixteen year old concert goer named Arlene fred Us penned

54
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,480
Speaker 1: a letter to the Santa Cruz Sentinel in which she

55
00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,880
Speaker 1: picked apart the paper's coverage of the concert. In an

56
00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,360
Speaker 1: article on June four, the Sentinel had attributed the teen's

57
00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:24,120
Speaker 1: dancing to quote the provocative rhythms of an all negro band.

58
00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,919
Speaker 1: Fred Us fired back at the article writer saying quote

59
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,880
Speaker 1: that prejudice statement was uncalled for and untrue. Dancing of

60
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,120
Speaker 1: this sort occurred at the Halloween Dance last year, where

61
00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,520
Speaker 1: a white band played, but much less was made of that.

62
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,919
Speaker 1: I disagree with you about the destruction of the health

63
00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,520
Speaker 1: and morals of our youth. If anything, it helps by

64
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:52,440
Speaker 1: eliminating prejudice between the two races. One last thing, did

65
00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,880
Speaker 1: the writer of the article use rubber inc Because he

66
00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:00,400
Speaker 1: sure did stretch the truth. Sadly, sidy A thor cities

67
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,680
Speaker 1: didn't take much notice of the teenagers protests were the

68
00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,520
Speaker 1: accusations of racism in their minds. The negative national coverage

69
00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,560
Speaker 1: of the band was a much larger concern. Santa Cruz

70
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,839
Speaker 1: was mocked for its prudish stance on rock music, and

71
00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,440
Speaker 1: officials began to worry that bad publicity might affect the

72
00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,919
Speaker 1: city's bottom line. Located on Monterey Bay, just seventy or

73
00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,800
Speaker 1: so miles south of San Francisco, Santa Cruz was and

74
00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,159
Speaker 1: still is, largely dependent on tourism. It was an ideal

75
00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,279
Speaker 1: weekend getaway for teens and families, but with some newspapers

76
00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,839
Speaker 1: now referring to the city as the lair of the Square.

77
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,760
Speaker 1: That might not have stayed the case for long, and so,

78
00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:48,000
Speaker 1: with the city's reputation and economy on the line, officials

79
00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,599
Speaker 1: started back pedaling on the band. Just three days after

80
00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:56,040
Speaker 1: it was announced. On June six, City Manager Robert Klein

81
00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:00,160
Speaker 1: clarified that there was no city ban on harmless rock

82
00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,839
Speaker 1: and roll dancing. Police Chief Huntsman echoed the idea, saying quote,

83
00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,160
Speaker 1: we have nothing against rock and roll music. It's just

84
00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:13,360
Speaker 1: what some people do while listening to it. This loosening

85
00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 1: of restrictions helped push the story off the national stage

86
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,840
Speaker 1: and out of the public's mind, but it did nothing

87
00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,640
Speaker 1: to ease the racial tension that surrounded rock and roll

88
00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:27,760
Speaker 1: music at the time. In fact, just the opposite. Ray Judah,

89
00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:32,200
Speaker 1: the manager of Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, actually banned Chuck

90
00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,200
Speaker 1: Higgins from ever playing the venue again. He also canceled

91
00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,680
Speaker 1: a performance by Fats Domino the following month, claiming that

92
00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,359
Speaker 1: the black musician drew quote a certain type of crowd

93
00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:48,760
Speaker 1: that would not be compatible to this particular community. Later

94
00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:53,720
Speaker 1: that summer, city council members double down on Judah's discriminatory practices.

95
00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:56,800
Speaker 1: They passed a resolution that gave him the power to

96
00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,560
Speaker 1: refuse any proposed event that he felt was unexp sceptible,

97
00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:06,880
Speaker 1: including quote dances of immoral and suggestive character. The council's

98
00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,320
Speaker 1: resolution didn't specify what made a dance immoral, but since

99
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,800
Speaker 1: they trusted Judah to make that judgment, we can probably

100
00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:18,920
Speaker 1: guess what they had in mind. Santa Cruz's soft band

101
00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,400
Speaker 1: on rock and roll didn't last long, and even then,

102
00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,880
Speaker 1: Ray Judah could only control who played at the Civic Auditorium.

103
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,920
Speaker 1: But the city wasn't alone in its opposition to rock

104
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,960
Speaker 1: music or the lengths it went to to try and

105
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,160
Speaker 1: suppress it. Just two weeks after the band in Santa Cruz,

106
00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:41,480
Speaker 1: city councils in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and San Antonio,

107
00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,800
Speaker 1: Texas both enacted similar bands and the hopes of rooting

108
00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:51,240
Speaker 1: out so called undesirable elements. It's true that rock and

109
00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:56,320
Speaker 1: roll will never die, but apparently thinly veiled racism won't either.

110
00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 1: I'm gay, Bluesier, and hopefully you now know a little

111
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,560
Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. You can

112
00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,360
Speaker 1: learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook,

113
00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,640
Speaker 1: and Instagram at T D I HC Show and if

114
00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,360
Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, you can always send

115
00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,280
Speaker 1: them my way at This Day at I Heart Media

116
00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:27,440
Speaker 1: dot Com special thanks to guest producers Joey pat and

117
00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,160
Speaker 1: Casey Pegram, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see

118
00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,400
Speaker 1: you back here again soon for another day in History

119
00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:34,800
Speaker 1: class