[TPIN] Black and white on the same band

[Bryan Edgett]

Lets not forget our own Leon Merian who was the first caucasian to 
tour nationally with and all black jazz band when he was with Lucky 
Millinder. Regrettably, segregation still was in full force then. 
Leon told me that when they went to the South, the white hotel owners 
wouldn't let him stay in their hotels because he was playing with a 
black band. He couldn't stay in the hotels that served African 
Americans because he was white. He often had to sleep on the bus.

Cordially,

Bryan Edgett

>Lots of great musicians broke the color barriers in times and places 
>where it was difficult.. Here are some good examples off the top of 
>my head -