Dick Clark integrated the dancing floor on American Bandstand

[bluestateguy]

And that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Nonetheless, it was he who ordered the dancing floor to be integrated with black and white teenagers dancing together in the same room to the same music. It brought legitimacy to the idea that recreation should not be segregated.

[CatWoman]

1. I went on You Tube to look at some old AB Shows

man, did they bring back memories.

RIP Dick.

You were/are the man.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. But originally, young blacks were not allowed on his show

here in Philadelphia according to my Mother. It was a source of some pretty ugly issues when the show ran locally until the policy changed when it went national.

[kskiska]

4. Dick Clark was actually instrumental in replacing original Black artists

such as Little Richard with more "socially acceptable" White performers he "discovered" like Frankie Avalon and Fabian. Many adults were out to destroy rock & roll, especially those in government, who came up with the "payola" scandal. Alan Freed was loyal to the Black performers as evidenced by the prevalence of Blacks on his rock & roll road tours. Freed was ruined by the scandal and Clark, who was even more heavily invested in payola, was forced by ABC to divest himself of holdings in the music business and managed to get off scot free. Freed Died a broken man several years later.

[teddy51]

3. Dick Clark was awesome, his American Bandstand was a ritual for me and I loved the guy.

He probably did as much for the black/white relations in this country than any others. He had all of the top acts on his show.

RIP Dick, and you will be fondly remembered.

[fishwax]

5. I don't think that is factually accurate, bluestateguy

I've heard the claim before, and certainly Dick Clark has said as much. But as I understand it, the historical record does not support the claim. There were many in the African-American community (and elsewhere) who were critical of American Bandstand in the late 1950s and early 1960s for its apparent unwillingness to admit/show African Americans on the dance floor or in the audience.

I'm not saying this to dance on the grave, of course, nor to deny that he actually did show African American performers on his show. But I think that crediting Clark with the integration of the dance floor diminishes the struggles of those who were actually responsible for it. There were young activists in Philadelphia's black community who challenged the show's exclusionary policies and/or practices in the press and in person even after Clark took the show over and after ABC picked it up for national broadcast.

There was a book that came out very recently called The Nicest Kids in Town about American Bandstand and its relation to Civil Rights. I haven't read the book itself, and so can't speak to it specifically, but there is an interesting series of three pages which discuss teh early Dick Clark years and are available here.

Incidentally, American Bandstand was picked up nationally by ABC in 1957, not long after they suddenly cancelled fellow DJ Alan Freed's The Big Beat after its fourth episode. The third episode featured Frankie Lymon and the teenagers who was shown dancing with one of the white females in the audience. That was a scandal.

[kskiska]

6. Right on!

There's a book, "Big Beat Heat" by John A. Jackson that tells the story of the early years of rock & roll and the rivalry of Alan Freed and Dick Clark. It's incredible to see how the media is glorifying Clark and ignoring the facts.

[RufusTFirefly]

7. +1 No disrespect intended to the dead, but we have to stop perpetuating myths. n/t