Duke Ellington: An American Legacy

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wanted him
to become an artist(330). But how was Duke to become an artist in a time when
blacks weren't given the same rights as everyone else. They went to separate
schools. They were forced to the back of the bus and to use separate bathrooms.
If Duke were to become some one he had much to come over.

One thing that we do know is that Duke was always looking for attention
and dignity. There are even stories of how he would announce from the top of
the stairs in the morning that he was coming down and demand that his parents
applaud(Collier,9). Also when his cousins would come over he would stand on the
front porch as they arrived and make them curtsy in front of him(9). Of course
they didn't like that but they played along(10). From the beginning Duke
Ellington wanted to be remembered by generations to come, That would be
difficult being the son of a butler and black(The New Grove Dictionary of
Jazz,330); in a time when Negroes had many obstacles including the racism ...

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song for someone and not being allowed to share it. His
feelings and ideas were never expressed to the people that meant the most to him,
his people(Johnson,59). At the time his legacy was only known by the whites who
went to see him perform. It wasn't until later when Blacks began to hear the
Duke's music for the first time.

Being headlined wasn't the only fame that the band brought Duke
Ellington. In 1930 he took the group to Hollywood to appear in the movie, Check
and Double Check(The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz,330). Ellington was becoming
a household name. The attention and dignity that he had always strived for as a
kid had finally come.

Ellington was not going to let ...

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