8 minute read
Sing Out! The Legacy of Josh White
For Josh White Jr., the return to the birthplace of his father was a bittersweet homecoming that offered moments of redemption inextricably bound up with a reckoning with the past. He was in town for the dedication of a sculpture honoring the life and work of his father, Josh White Sr. The bronze sculpture by artist Joe Thompson was unveiled to the public in October of 2021 and stands at the intersection of Falls Park Drive and Hammond Street in Greenville's Historic West End.
Born in Greenville in 1914, Josh White Sr. embarked on a musical journey that took him from roaming the South, shoeless, as an escort for blind blues musicians, to playing packed concert halls across Europe. One of his generation's great musical talents, White enjoyed widespread success and acclaim during his career. As time passed, his musical legacy largely faded from cultural memory, but recent efforts by the Committee to Com memorate Josh White have begun the process of restoring it.
At a young age, White Sr. was exposed to the harsh realities of life for a Black family living in the South in the early 1900s. His father was assaulted by police officers and, when he attempted to defend himself and struck one of the officers, was thrown in a mental institution without a trial, where he died nine years later.
White Sr. was suddenly thrust into the role of primary breadwinner for his family, which he did by leading blind blues musicians from gig to gig. His first job was with a musician named Blind Man Arnold, who White Sr. met when he was “polite enough to help [Arnold] across the street,” according to White Jr. After that chance meeting and after securing permission from his very devout mother, White Sr. began traveling the South, and as far as Texas and Chicago, with a succession of blind musicians, over 60 in all, according to White Jr. Doug Yeager, the manager of the Josh White estate and Josh White Jr.’s manager, added that White “didn’t wear his first pair of shoes until he was 16, or have long pants,” because it elicited sympathy from the audience and made more money for him to appear impoverished.
One of the benefits of traveling with so many different musicians was that White Sr. was exposed to a wide range of guitar playing styles, and quickly became proficient. When he was 16, White moved to New York and, since he was underage, his mother had to sign his first recording contract for him, with the stipulation that he play only Christian music and “no devil’s music,” said Yeager. At this time, White was known as the "Singing Christian," but unbeknownst to his mother, he also started recording blues songs under the name Pinewood Tom.
White's career was derailed for a time when his hand nearly had to be amputated due to an infection, which set in after he punched a door during a bar fight. However, his hand recovered and he was able to resume his performing career, including forming a Christian group called Josh White and His Carolinians, one member of which was White’s friend Bayard Rustin, who would later go on to become a prominent leader in the civil rights movement. White’s career took off from there as he continued to record albums, star in Broadway musicals, act in films, tour, and host his own radio show. He became the first Black male artist to sell a million copies of a single and performed at President Roosevelt's third inauguration.
In 1950, however, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) identified White as a suspected communist sympathizer. White had performed throughout the 30s and 40s at the Café Society Club in New York City, the first integrated club in the country. Given this distinction, the club also became known as a hotspot for progressive politics.
Based on his frequent appearances there, White may have associated with people who had already become targets of the HUAC. White voluntarily appeared before the Committee because, as White Jr. notes, "he felt he had nothing to hide."
His words to the Committee, now immortalized on the sculpture commemorating his life, included “I am proud of the fact that under our system of freedom, everyone is able to speak out—or in my case sing out—against what we consider wrong and what we consider right.”
While White did not name names, he did condemn communism. As a result, according to Yeager, White was "denounced by both the right and the left." White was essentially blacklisted from recording or performing in America and spent most of the rest of his life recording and performing outside the United States until his death in 1969.
White’s legacy was both musical and political. He mentored and inspired many musicians throughout his career including, according to Yeager, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, and many others. He was also outspoken about civil rights and was well known for his version of “Strange Fruit,” which, according to White Jr., was a very personal song for his father.
“When my father was seven years old, he saw a lynching. He was with Blind Joe Taggart…and they heard some noise. And then, they were very quiet. Dad said there was white people—men, women, and children—drinking by this fire, and these bodies were hanging. So when he sang ‘Southern tree bears a strange fruit,’ he saw the strange fruit, and he knew they could not move…so they had to just stay still and listen to them drinking, having fun, and having a bonfire—and be quiet until they left, or there would have been two more bodies hanging there. So when he did 'Strange Fruit,' we knew what he was seeing when he said it.” Yeager added that White Sr. was hopeful, noting that he had said “that’s a song I will sing at home until I never have to sing it again.”
Growing up with a famous musician as a father had been a formative experience for White Jr. He said that “music was always in your life… you could walk around the house singing—you didn’t need an instrument…music and family are just synonymous. Can’t have one without the other.” White Jr. has also enjoyed a long and accomplished musical career, earning a Tony award at the age of nine. White Jr. was also nominated for a Grammy award and continues to record and perform to this day. “I don’t remember ever not being in show business,” he said. White Jr. refuses to categorize himself as a blues or a folk musician. “You can call me what you want. I sing songs that I can learn by ear and that I like. I enjoy playing with a 30-piece orchestra as much as I do playing a guitar by myself.”
Josh White Jr. and family with Doug Yeager and City of Greenville's Mayor Knox White.
Returning to Greenville evoked mixed feelings for White Jr. He said that his father did not talk about his childhood very often and “never brought up the past.” White Jr. did come to Greenville once as a boy in the 1940s, and while he didn’t remember much about the trip, one thing stands out to him—he remembers seeing a chain gang. "I think they had chains on their legs, so they couldn't run. I was eight, nine years old...you didn't see anything like that in New York City."
Returning to Greenville for the sculpture's unveiling was a powerful experience for White Jr. "I had to close my eyes because I was too emotional. I couldn’t look at my sister, I couldn’t look at my family, because it was too much.” He is grateful to the Committee to Commemorate Josh White, which organized and funded the sculpture, and credited the sculptor, Joe Thompson, as "much of it was a labor of love on his part, and he did a beautiful piece of art." For White Jr., the ceremony was a special moment that drew him closer to the place of his father’s birth. “Greenville was the place where my father came from, but Greenville now is somewhere in my heart. It is different, and I am grateful.”
Josh White at Midnight by Josh White. Available on Hoopla
Free and Equal Blues by Josh White. CD/MUS 789.43 White and available on Freegal.
Strange Fruit by Josh White. Available on Freegal.
