James had a knack for anthem songs.
A good piece on the Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud relevance:
The song became an anthem and lifted a downtrodden black community’s spirit 40 years ago this month.
“It’s probably the most important soul record because of its timing and the issues at the time,” said Jerry Rushin, general manager of South Florida radio stations WEDR (FM 99.1) and WHQT (FM 105.1).
The summer of 1968 was not a hot one like the previous three, which had seen Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, as well as areas of Cleveland, Detroit and other cities, go up in flames. The riots of 1968 had come in spring with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s April 4 assassination.
Cities again exploded. Chicago. Detroit. Newark, N.J. Washington.
Brown, performing in Boston that day, was credited with keeping that city calm.
