Josh White

Josh White passed away on the 5th of September 1969 aged 55



Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914 – September 5, 1969), better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist .





White grew up in the Jim Crow South. During the 1920s and 30s, he had a prolific output of recordings in genres including Piedmont blues, country blues, gospel, and social protest songs. In 1931, White moved to New York, and within a decade his fame had spread widely; his repertoire expanded to include urban blues, jazz, traditional folk songs, and political protest songs. He soon was in demand as an actor on radio, Broadway, and film.



White also became the close friend and confidante to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, White's anti-segregationist and international human rights political stance resulted in the right-wing McCarthyites assuming he was a Communist. From 1947 through the mid-1960s, White was caught up in the anti-Communist Red Scare and his career was damaged. On September 1, 1950, Josh White, appeared without counsel and with only his wife Carol at his side, before the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.C., regarding Communist influence in the entertainment industry and African American community. Mrs. Roosevelt warned White that the government would turn his testimony against him. Indeed, this was the case, and Josh White's blacklisting would not be lifted for years.



With work rapidly drying up in America, White relocated to London from 1950 to 1955, where he hosted his own BBC radio show, My Guitar Is Old As Father Time, resumed his recording career, with new successes such as "On Top of Old Smokey", "Lonesome Road", "I Want You and Need You", "Wandering", "Molly Malone" and "I'm Going to Move to the Outskirts of Town" and gave concert tours throughout Europe and beyond.



In 1961, White's health began a sharp decline with the first of the three heart attacks and the heart disease that would plague him over his final eight years. During the last two years of his life, his wife Carol would put him in the hospital for four weeks after he completed each two-week concert tour. Finally, the doctors attempted a new procedure to replace heart valves. The surgery failed. He died on the operating table on September 6, 1969 at the North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, New York.



Harry Belafonte, upon learning of White's passing, he said, "I can't tell you how sad I am. I spent many, many hours with him in the years of my early development. He had a profound influence on my style. At the time I came along, he was the only popular black folk singer, and through his artistry exposed America to a wealth of material about the life and conditions of black people that had not been sung by any other artist."



Further reading

www.elijahwald.com/josh.html

wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_White



Josh White: Society Blues - Elijah Wald

(University of Massachusetts Press (hardcover, 2000) Routledge (paperback, 2002))



Document Titles available:-

DOCD-5194 Josh White Vol 1, DOCD-5195 Josh White Vol 2, DOCD-5196 Josh White Vol 3,

DOCD-5405 Josh White Vol 4, DOCD-5571 Josh White Vol 5, DOCD-5572 Josh White Vol 6.