The nicest kids in town : American bandstand, rock 'n' roll, and the struggle for civil rights in 1950s Philadelphia / Matthew F. Delmont.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Delmont, Matthew F.

Series:

American crossroads ; 32.

American crossroads ; 32

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civil rights movements.

History.

Segregation.

African Americans--Civil rights.

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Race relations--History--20th century.

Philadelphia (Pa.).

African Americans--Civil rights--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History--20th century.

African Americans.

Segregation--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History--20th century.

Civil rights movements--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History--20th century.

West Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pa.)--History.

West Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pa.).

American Bandstand (Television program).

Minorities on television.

Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

Physical Description:

xi, 294 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2012]

Summary:

American Bandstand, one of the most popular television shows ever, broadcast from Philadelphia in the late fifties, a time when that city had become a battleground for civil rights. Counter to host Dick Clark's claims that he integrated American Bandstand, this book reveals how the first national television program directed at teens discriminated against black youth during its early years and how black teens and civil rights advocates protested this discrimination. Matthew F. Delmont brings together major themes in American history-civil rights, rock and roll, television, and the emergence of a youth culture-as he tells how white families around American Bandstand's studio mobilized to maintain all-white neighborhoods and how local school officials reinforced segregation long after Brown v. Board of Education. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Making Philadelphia safe for "WFIL-adelphia": television, housing, and defensive localism in Bandstand's backyard

They shall be heard: local television as a civil rights battleground

The de facto dilemma: fighting segregation in Philadelphia public schools

From Little Rock to Philadelphia: making de facto school segregation a media issue

The rise of rock and roll in Philadelphia: Georgie Woods, Mitch Thomas, and Dick Clark

"They'll be rockin' on Bandstand, in Philadelphia, P.A.": imagining national youth culture on American bandstand

Remembering American bandstand, forgetting segregation

Still boppin' on Bandstand: American dreams, Hairspray, and American bandstand in the 2000s

Conclusion: everybody knows about American bandstand.

Notes:

"The George Gund Foundation imprint in African American studies"--p. before half-t.p.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780520272071

0520272072

9780520272088

0520272080

OCLC:

754389860