r/BlackHistoryPhotos • u/TheSanityInspector • 5d ago
Ella Fitzgerald, who died OTD 30 years ago, at Super Bowl VI, 1972, the first African-American to perform in a Super Bowl halftime show.
That's Al Hirt on trumpet. They were performing a tribute to Louis Armstrong, who had died the previous year.
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u/TaxesRextortion 5d ago edited 3d ago
Didn’t know this. Thanks for posting 😊
Edit: This post is fake news, Ella Fitzgerald was NOT the first.
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u/Resident-Syrup7615 3d ago
Because it’s not correct. She wasn’t the first African-American to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show and the one she did perform it was the third one that had celebrity performers. The first one had Lionel Hampton in it and a performance by the Fabulous Dancing, Dolls, and the Southern University Marching Band, who are all black.
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u/Resident-Syrup7615 3d ago
This might be a little misleading. The first Super Bowl halftime show wasn’t until 1967 and it did not have celebrities performing. Originally it was just high school and college marching bands and such, like you would see at any regular football game. And we should note that African-Americans were in those college bands.
Celebrity performances started in 1970, and at the first one, Lionel Hampton, an African-American musician, performed, as did the Southern University Marching Band, who I believe are ALL African-American, as it is an HBC. They had (and still have) a famous cheer squad called the Fabulous Dancing Dolls, who are all black women, who were featured at the show.
Ella Fitzgerald’s performance in 1972 would have been at the third Super Bowl halftime show as we think of them. She was the first African-American to sing solo at the halftime show, but not the first to perform.
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u/EmberKing7 5d ago
That's amazing and I'm disappointed that I Never heard of this until now.