From Eubie Blake
Author: Blake, Eubie
Date: August 21, 1962
Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Genre: Letter
Details
Blake, a renowned composer and songwriter, offers King the use of his pre-World War II arrangement “We Are Americans, Too” for a second time and assures King of his spiritual and financial support.1 No reply has been found.
To: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dear Rev.
I was reading in the New york times, that music is helping your struggle for freedom, in the South2 If you will accept a marching Song Title “We Are American Too”. I will send this one Copy to you, And you’ll accept this music I will send as many copies as you [will?] wish free of Charge. I will also Send a Brass Band Arrangent if you wish. I hope you’ll get to read this letter.
I you do Please me know at once, again I will send you as many Copies as you wish.
Thank I am with you both speritually & finanacilly financially.
[signed] Eubie Blake
1. Blake, along with Andy Razaf and Charles L. Cooke, composed “We Are Americans Too” in 1941. In 1956, King had received one hundred copies of the song to raise funds for the Montgomery Improvement Association (King to Lovie M. Rainbow, 10 July 1956, in Papers 3:317). In a 23 March 1961 letter to Razaf, King called the song “most inspiring” and said he “always listened to it with deep appreciation.” James Hubert Blake (1883–1983) was born to two former slaves in Baltimore, Maryland. At a young age, Blake learned to play the pump organ and piano. After working in nightclubs for several years, Blake was hired in 1907 to play at the Goldfield Hotel in Baltimore, a night spot whose clientele included wealthy and prominent businesspeople and entertainers. In 1911, he left the Goldfield as a successful and popular ragtime pianist. Blake also composed several musicals, including Shuffle Along (1921) and Chocolate Dandies (1924) with Noble Sissle. During World War II Blake served as a bandleader with the United Servicemen Organizations (USO), and afterward attended New York University and graduated with a degree in music in 1950. Because of renewed interest in ragtime music, Blake signed recording deals with 20th Century Records and Columbia Records. He lectured and performed around the world, and in 1981 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his pioneering contributions to music.
2. Blake refers to an article written by Times reporter Robert Shelton regarding the impact freedom songs made on the civil rights movement. In the article, King was quoted as saying: “The freedom songs are playing a strong and vital role in our struggle. They give the people new courage and a sense of unity. I think they keep alive a faith, a radiant hope, in the future, particularly in our most trying hours” (Shelton, “Songs a Weapon in Rights Battle,” New York Times, 20 August 1962).
Source: SCLCR-GAMK, Southern Christian Leadership Conference Records, 1954–1970, Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.