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Recording the Dream | History Today
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<article about="/archive/recording-dream" typeof="schema:Article" class="node node--type-article node--view-mode-teaser"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-12 col-m-12"> <h1 class="page-title"> <span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Recording the Dream</span> </h1> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-12 col-m-12"> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-summary field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Brian Ward, author of a new book on the links between Rhythm and Blues music and the Civil Rights movement, tells of Martin Luther King’s little-known experiences as a recording artist.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-12 col-m-12"> <div class="group-author-publish-info"> <strong><a href="/author/brian-ward" hreflang="en">Brian Ward</a></strong> | Published in <a href="/archive/history-today" hreflang="en">History Today</a> <a href="/history-today-issues/volume-48-issue-4-april-1998" hreflang="en">Volume 48 Issue 4 April 1998</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-12 col-m-12"> <div class="field field--name-field-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <section class="paragraph paragraph--type--text paragraph--view-mode--preview"> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-paragraph-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>While studies of Martin Luther King have burgeoned during the thirty years since the Civil Rights leader’s death, certain aspects of his career remain virtually unexplored by Movement historians. One such gap in the literature concerns King’s relationship with the recording industry, and in particular with two resourceful and intensely ambitious black record label owners, Dootsie Williams and Berry Gordy.</p> <p>Almost from the beginning of his public career, several Rhythm and Blues record labels had seen in King an opportunity to make money and to project a racially progressive image to their customers. In 1960, for example, Atlantic, which was the most successful of all the Rhythm and Blues labels in the 1950s – and which continued to flourish in the 1960s with singers like Aretha Franklin – sought permission to record about forty minutes of King speaking. Although King was apparently ‘quite interested’ in the suggestion, nothing ever came of it, and it fell to Dootsie Williams, owner of the Los Angeles-based Dooto Records – home of the Penguins and their million-selling hit ‘Earth Angel’ – to release King’s first solo album.</p></div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="nopremium-message"><div> <p><img class="media-element file-standard img-responsive" data-delta="5" typeof="Image" src="//www.historytoday.com/sites/default/files/paywall2.jpg" width="400" height="315" alt=""></p> <p>To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.</p> <p><a class="btn-default" href="//www.historytoday.com/subscription/subscribe"><strong>Start my trial subscription now</strong></a> <p>If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are <strong><a href="//www.historytoday.com/user/login">logged in</a></strong>.</p> <p>Please email <strong><a href="mailto:digital@historytoday.com">digital@historytoday.com</a></strong> if you have any problems.</p> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> <div class="views-element-container block block-views block-views-blockarticle-general-tags" id="block-views-block-article-general-tags"> <div><div class="view view-article view-id-article view-display-id-general_tags js-view-dom-id-a9b24d24d6a765f0e5d878adbde7b95141f2ab4d413c84cdd7ea0b27c8e57a7a"> <div class="view-content"> <a href="/themes/civil-rights" hreflang="en">Civil Rights</a><a href="/themes/political" hreflang="en">Political</a><a href="/themes/social" hreflang="en">Social</a><a href="/archive/people/martin-luther-king" hreflang="en">Martin Luther King</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container block block-views block-views-blockpopular-content-block-2" id="block-views-block-popular-content-block-2"> <h2 class="block-title">Popular articles</h2> <div><div class="view view-popular-content view-id-popular_content view-display-id-block_2 js-view-dom-id-a954a9cd71b8f7ef2e784259038ec6983445b45adf7c002dc0b9660636363ba8"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-field views-field-nothing"><span class="field-content"><div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-6 col-m-6"> <a href="/archive/head-head/why-do-religions-decline" hreflang="en"><img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_list/public/2024-11/religions_decline_history_today_0.jpg?itok=-qHS1Wm9" width="440" height="340" alt="A farmer gives milk from the holy cow to Hindus, Parsees and the British, by Ravi Varma, c. 1848-1908. 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