May 27
People mocked Ed Sullivan for being stiff, awkward, and having all the charisma of dry toast. Meanwhile, that man was putting Black excellence into millions of white living rooms every Sunday night during segregation.
While others were busy protecting “tradition,” he was booking Black artists, upsetting sponsors, getting hate mail, and helping normalize something this country fought tooth and nail against: seeing Black people as talented, polished, brilliant, and worthy of admiration.
History has a funny way of exposing who was actually moving the culture forward while the loudest critics were standing still.
September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974
Thank you, Ed Sullivan. Thank you!!
