George Wallace was Governor of Alabama for four terms (not consecutive) starting in 1963. He was ardently opposed to desegregation. Alabama had one of the worst records in its treatment of Black people (only Mississippi was worse). He famously stood in the doorway to block the first Black students from enrolling in the University of Alabama in 1963. (They enrolled anyway.) He ran for president in 1968 on a segregationist platform, and though he lost, he carried several southern states. He ran for president again in 1972, but was shot and paralyzed by a gunman seeking to assassinate him. Anyway, during the Civil Rights era, Nina Simone (and many others) had good reason to be upset by Governor Wallace.
When he was shot the only Black (Afro-Caribean) congress woman the brilliant Shirley Chisholm went to visit him in hospital, he claims her kindness started the process that led to him renouncing racism and apologising for segregation. It is debated how sincere he was- the optimist and the cynic in me disagree on the issue.
Her daughter helped with (2) movies about Nina Simone's life. I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard her voice (50 years ago) because she is such a unique spirit and so truthful.
I saw her perform at Texas Southern University and she got pissed off at people talking over her and she "If you don;t want to fucking listen I don't want to fucking perform£ and she got up and walked off the stage
Racism was a reality in her era (also my era) so fear of dying was not superstition, but a daily reality. She was fearless to sing about her daily reality, especially at that time.. 🌈 Sad that we evolve so slowly. those of us who have prayed and marched for equality and peace for over 50 years are tired but not defeated. 🙏💕
My ONLY claim to fame is seeing this woman sing live a couple of years before she passed. She was known for insisting everyone in the audience shut their mouths before she started singing. An AMAZING talent.
Nobody has mentioned that this song by the late great Nina Simone is a reation song to the infamous civil rights Mississippi Burning murders in the same way Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name Of" is a reaction song against the Rodney King murder. 🎶🤔😢😎👍
What a strong woman!! I’m a 64 year old white woman from Mississippi . I was fortunate to be raised by parents who knew that things needed to change. They embraced the civil rights area and taught their children well!
Can't wait for you to start reacting to Gil Scott Heron - Nina set the template for him. You should check out Paul Robeson - he's one of my heros,what an amazing man & life. 🌞🎶🎥😎😉
As the child of an Italian pa and a black momma what you said about whoopins hit a nerve, like the gluteal nerve lol. There were four of us boys 2 years apart and all us got permanent welts on our butts. Our Dad had a variety of belts in different thickness depending on how bad our transgressions were, but we were more scared of Mama who had wooden stick with splinters and she would go psycho of us. My God Mugsy, you gave me flashbacks dude. Ouch! 😳😂
Your pooping were done out of love and fear. They knew if they didn't spank and discipline you there would be a greater potential of you becoming a victim of white societal hatred and terrorism. They would come to your house and remove you or just burn your house down with all your family members in it. They looked for reasons to hurt and kill innocent black people if they couldn't find one they made one up. Hanging blacks was considered a social event in some areas where they gathered and held special ritualized events to promote their hatred. Nina also sang a song about strange fruit hanging from the trees.
You notice that her audience was in Europe. Same with Howlin Wolf. Black performers couldn’t get a good audience, a good white audience in the United States; to make any money they had to go to Europe. Same with jazz and blues in general. Also, Nina Simone was very bitter because she wanted to be a classical artist and was discouraged because she was black.
