Martin Luther King, James Brown, and Boston
Forty years ago yesterday, on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The very next night, “Soul Brother Number One” and “Godfather of Soul” James Brown (1933–2006) was scheduled to perform a concert at the Boston Garden in Massachusetts.
Yet, after word of the reverend’s murder spread, riots quickly erupted in more than 100 cities across the United States. As a result, Boston’s newly elected mayor at that critical time, Kevin White, was left with the difficult task of preventing widespread disorder in the city.
His original decision was allegedly to cancel the James Brown concert all together, until those with better knowledge of local neighborhoods advised him a cancellation would only further ignite anger, inspiring a greater likelihood of public disturbances.
White then approached James Brown directly and suggested the soul singer go on with his performance but allow concurrent televising on local airwaves. Public broadcasting station WGBH on channel 2 stepped in to air the concert footage, and as a result, only about 2,500 of 15,000 ticket holders attended the event; the remainder stayed at home and watched the concert on TV. Hence, the lack of agitated people in the downtown Boston area directly contributed to the absence of riots in the city.
Tonight at 9pm EST, basic-cable network VH1 will present The Night James Brown Saved Boston. The music documentary details the events of April 1968, highlighting Brown’s role in helping to alleviate tension in Boston. Encore broadcasts will follow on Sunday, April 6, at 2am and on Monday, April 7, at 10pm.
WGBH, the station that actually televised the famous concert in 1968, also has its own coverage of the historic occasion available around the clock. Visitors to the website for James Brown: Live at the Boston Garden, 1968 can not only listen to the entire broadcast that originally aired, but view the network’s in-house documentary of the occasion titled The Politics of Soul, as well.
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