SHREVEPORT, La. - KTBS is celebrating 70 years by remembering the stories shared through the years, including the arrest of singer Sam Cooke in Shreveport on Oct. 8, 1963.
Sam Cooke was a hit the moment he entered the pop music genre. From sold out to concerts to national television appearances, Cook was becoming a household name. In 1964, he appeared on American Bandstand and Dick Clark cheered his knack for songwriting.
“Well, if you observe what's going on and try to figure out how it is, how people are thinking and determined, the times of your day, I think you can always write something with that. The people will understand," Cooke said. About six months before that interview Cooke was in Shreveport and encountered racism that is still hard for many to understand.
Former Shreveport City Councilman Willie Bradford recalled, “So they went to get a room at the Holiday Inn on North Market. So, they were at the counter at registration when in the hotel clerk said, 'Mr. Cooke, I'm sorry, but we can't allow you to register here because we don't serve black people.
'” News articles about the incident say Cooke, his wife, brother, and manager left this hotel parking lot outraged over the discrimination made legal by Jim Crow. "My father, he was a prominent musician, and he had to be turned away from getting the hotel room just because of the color of his skin," said his daughter Carla Cooke. Cooke instead checked into the Castle Hotel where black entertainers were welcome.
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