African Americans know – or should know – that African Americans excel in every area of human endeavor where we are allowed to compete. The St. Louis American recognizes this, among other ways, in our foundation’s Salute to Excellence series, where we annually recognize black people in St. Louis who excel in education, health care and business (with a newer catch-all generational category for Young Leaders recently added). Outside of our community, as we know, our achievements are much more celebrated in some areas than others, with the vast majority of attention going to African-American superiority in athletics and the performing arts. For this reason, people all over the world knew our great singer and musician Fontella Bass, and people all over the world mourned with us when we lost our beautiful and beautifully talented sister.
Our friend Pastor Freddie J. Clark hosted a celebration of Fontella Bass’ life at his sanctuary at Shalom Church (City of Peace) on Friday evening, with help from the pastor at Fontella’s home church, Mount Beulah MB Church, the Rev. E.G. Shields Sr. In praising Fontella to her family and friends, Pastor Clark marveled at the list of African Americans from St. Louis who made an international name for themselves in the field of music: Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, the Fifth Dimension, Clark Terry, Henry Townsend, Ike and Tina Turner, Oliver Sain. (The list could be extended for many pages, but we must immediately include Scott Joplin, Julius Hemphill, Donny Hathaway and Fontella’s former husband Lester Bowie.) While we want the world to know so much more about so many more of our accomplishments and our high achievers, we join Pastor Clark in taking fierce pride in these great musicians, like Fontella Bass, whom our community gave to the world.
Lester Bowie once remarked that the Rolling Stones should be compelled to build a cultural center on the South Side of Chicago, where they borrowed the blues they used to forge their best-selling version of rock & roll. Chuck Berry’s Black St. Louis would be next in line deserving dividends from the Stones’ vast profits. And now we have addressed the painful fact that our people made the whole world dance and sing but did not enjoy anything like a fair share of the profits from providing that inspiration and entertainment. Pastor Clark spoke to this truth as well in remembering Fontella’s fierce, tireless battle for royalties as her signature song “Rescue Me” continued to be re-recorded and incorporated into corporate advertisements.
Pastor Clark drew a simple but strong message from this aspect of Fontella Bass’ legacy that bears restating. “She stood up for herself,” Pastor Clark said. “It’s amazing how when you stand up for yourself, they put you in a certain category. I know where Fontella grew up, everybody learned how to stand up for themselves. And I can tell you today, if you haven’t learned how to stand up for yourself, people will run over you. Maybe they threatened her, told her that she wouldn’t get the same exposure if she stood up for herself. But she stood up.”
We agree with Pastor Clark. It still takes courage for African Americans – especially in a region like St. Louis, which has been slow to recognize the value of all its people – to stand up for themselves. We still are threatened, in many cases, when we do stand up. But in the name of Fontella Bass and so many strong, determined women and men who came before us, in St. Louis and elsewhere, and all they stood and fought for, we must be strong and stand up for ourselves.
