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Feb. 2, 2026
A television stage can look harmless, but in the 1950s and 60s it was a battleground. We dive into how Ed Sullivan used one of America’s biggest platforms to book Black artists with intention, even as sponsors balked and Southern affiliates threatened to cut the feed. Far from token appearances, these performances treated Mahalia Jackson, James Brown, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole, and many more as artists first—confident, respected, and central to the culture. We walk through what those choices c...