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A clip from "The Night James Brown Saved Boston" discussed the riots and the fears that the live concert at Boston Garden the night after Dr. King's assassination on April 5th, 1968 would cause escalation.
In the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination on April 4th, 1968, riots broke out in cities across the country. James Brown had been scheduled to perform at the Boston Garden on April 5th. Boston Mayor, Kevin White had initially wanted to cancel all public events, including James Brown's show. As there was concern that the cancellation of the show might cause an escalation of the crisis. it was agreed that James Brown's show would go on.
The show, one of the greatest in Boston's history, went on and the city of Boston remained relatively calm. James Brown consoled his mourning audience, dedicated the show to the memory of Dr. King and was instrumental in keeping the peace on the streets of Boston.
Video transcript:
Tom Atkins: King's assassination hit Boston with a particularly heavy impact and there was a sense of loss that was very personal on the part of many people in the city.
Female: And then we heard the smashing from windows and the cars were honking going down the street. People were crying and screaming and became very chaotic at that point.
Narrator: Among the many potential hot spots that loomed over the city was a James Brown concert scheduled for the next night at Boston Garden. Harvard law student Tom Atkins, Boston's only Black city counselor became the liaison between Roxbury and the Mayor's office.
Tom Atkins: I received a call from Jimmy Bird. He called me at City Hall to say that there was a problem and that the problem was that a concert scheduled by James Brown for Boston Garden was about to be cancelled by the city.
Kevin White: His concert we thought might bring as many as 15 or 20,000 Black people from the community, particularly young people, into the city. It just had too much emotion in it not to decide whether that would be, that would be a problem.
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