This essay examines Ishmael Reed's play The C. Above High C, which dramatizes Louis Armstrong's involvement in the 1957 Little Rock integration crisis and his efforts to persuade President Eisenhower to protect Black students. Drawing on the world of jazz and the civil rights struggles of the 1950s, the essay analyzes how Reed uses Armstrong's story to illuminate the paradox of Black artistic achievement within a racially segregated society. It explores the tension between art and politics, the limits of cultural visibility as a path to civil rights, and the symbolic significance of the play's title.
The essay demonstrates effective use of thematic close reading applied to a dramatic text. Rather than summarizing the play's plot, it extracts and interrogates its central thematic conflict — art versus politics — and situates it within the historical context of mid-century American race relations. This approach shows how literary analysis can illuminate social and political questions.
The essay opens with a framing question about Black artistic identity in America, introduces the play and its historical basis, then develops the central paradox across three body paragraphs. Each paragraph advances the argument — from Armstrong's cultural position, to the contrast with political power, to the resolution and its limits. The conclusion ties the play's title back to the essay's core claim about art, politics, and civil rights.
What does it mean to be a Black artist in America? Ishmael Reed's play The C. Above High C juxtaposes the world of jazz with the civil rights struggles of the 1950s. It depicts famous trumpeter Louis Armstrong's support of the students in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the opposition Armstrong experienced from his managers and the American public regarding his stance. The play explicitly illustrates the conflict between art and politics: Armstrong's personal beliefs were clearly tied to his art. As a Black man working within a historically Black genre of music, he felt compelled to speak his conscience. However, it was far more "comfortable" for the white men profiting from his talent that he remain silent and nonpolitical.
Reed selects Armstrong as the subject of his play because his story demonstrates the ambivalent attitudes many Americans have toward race. On one hand, the legacy of racism in American history and culture cannot be denied. On the other hand, America has also frequently embraced African-American music and performers, and it could be argued that jazz is the most distinctly "American" of all art forms. Armstrong was clearly angry to live in a country that embraced him as an entertainer yet would not allow people of his skin color to receive a comparable education with whites — or even permit him to stay in hotels designated "whites only" in the South. As a musician, Armstrong might find himself performing in a club or bar from which he would be barred as a patron.
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