Selby Shoes -- Portsmouth "Shoe Capital Of the World"

Pair of bar shoes, chocolate brown suede with packaging by The Selby Shoe Company, Portsmouth, Ohio, United States of America, c. 1930. 2021. Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences.

As a lover of local history, I found out that George W. Farley (Civil War veteran for whom Farley Square is named) was a houseman – defined as “a man employed for cleaning, maintenance, and other general work” – for Mrs. J. J. Rardin for 25 years.

I assume this is the same wife of Jared Johnson Rardin (born in Athens County, November 30, 1848 and died November 23, 1925) who was a “progressive businessman and representative citizens of Scioto County and who became treasurer of the Selby Shoe Company in Portsmouth, a substantial manufacturing concern of the day.”

(Charles Burleigh Galbreath. History of Ohio, Volume 5. January 1925.) 

My mother Emma, along with so many other women in Portsmouth, worked in her younger years for Selby's. This J. J. Rardin reference piqued my interest for exploring some history of the company. Today, I would like to share my findings with you.

Remember, as difficult as it is for many young readers growing up in a poor Appalachian area to accept, Portsmouth was once known as “The Shoe Capital of the World.” Oh, those good old days.

Back in 1950, at what could be argued was the height of the city’s shoe industry, 16% of the Portsmouth work force was in shoes – 1,900 at Selby and 2,000 at Williams.

(“Mitchellace History.” www.zippia.com/.)

Over the years, there have been many shoe factories in Portsmouth. In the 1894 city directory, the following is listed:

• Drew, Selby & Co., John, 7th and Findlay (streets)
• Excelsior Shoe Manufacturing Co., 3rd and Gay
• Heer & Kleinknecht, 106-110 Court
• Paden Brothers & Co., 107-111 West Front
• Russell, Vincent & Williams, 6th and Offnere
• Star Shoe Co., 39 West Front

In 1901, the manufacturers listed:

• Drew, Selby & Co., John, Findlay and Gallia (streets)
• Excelsior Shoe Manufacturing Co., Findlay and Gallia
• Heer Shoe, 350 East 10th
• Portsmouth Shoe Co., 107-109 West Front
• Tremper Shoe Co., East 6th and Offnere

In 1920, Williams Manufacturing Company was founded and became one of the leading shoe manufacturers of ladies shoes in America. The shoes were priced affordably, especially during the early years prior to the Depression.

The years have brought many shoe factories to Portsmouth (many not mentioned here). Those who may have genealogical ties to Scioto County will probably find an ancestor who worked at one of the many shoe companies

(“The Portsmouth Shoe Industry.” www.yourppl.org/history.)

Photograph shows women working at the William Shoes Company in Portsmouth, Ohio. The women sit facing each other at long wooden workbenches, sewing on Singer sewing machines 

Kaleb Burchett writes in "Williams Manufacturing Company: Portsmouth, Ohio's Final Shoe Factory" …

“This history starts during the August of 1850, when Robert Bell organized what would come to be known as the Portsmouth Shoe Manufacturing Company. Fast forward to 1877, and Drew Irving and Company is founded that January. The factory would go on to become the famous Selby Shoe Company. A number of other shoe factories (including the focus of this project, Williams, which will be discussed in the next post) also popped up during the era, leading to Portsmouth’s reputation atop the shoe industry.

“Portsmouth has the reputation of turning out the largest number of manufactured shoes of any city of equal population. There are six factories in Portsmouth with a capacity of 20,000 pairs of shoes per day, with a steady output of approximately 15,000 pairs per day. Fully 4,000 people are given employment in the shoe industry alone.

“The amount of leather used in the manufacture of shoes adds further to the industry of the city itself, and it is said that about one million two hundred thousand hides, large and small, are used yearly. The cartons for the shoes are manufactured right in Portsmouth.

“It is said that approximately $10,000 (approximately $251,506 in today’s value) per day is distributed throughout the section covered by Portsmouth by the shoe factory operating there in wages, exclusively of the vast amounts paid out for incidental expenses. The total value of the product of Portsmouth shoe factories is given by its Commercial Association as $7,000,000 (approx. $176,054,242) per year.

“Unfortunately, this success was not sustainable. With the 1976 closure of Williams Manufacturing Company, the town’s shoe industry would basically cease to exist.

“This brings about the question, 'What happened?' Well, that is up for debate. Some argue that the unionization of the industry is what caused the failure. Through studying Williams, it is clear that this is not the case. Instead, the importation of cheaper, foreign shoes made it impossible for local companies to compete. Therefore, regardless of what had happened with unionization, it was inevitable that importation would eventually price these factories into closure.”

(Kaleb Burchett. “Shoe Capital of the World: Portsmouth, OH and the Importance of the Shoe Industry.” Blog entry. https://kalebburchett.wordpress.com/author/knburchett/. March 28, 2018.)

Selby Shoe Company

Bob Boldman of the Portsmouth Daily Times writes that in January of 1877, the Irving Drew & Company was formed. It was reorganized in 1879 under Drew, Selby and Company with partners Irving Drew and George Selby. The first location of their factory was on the third floor of a building on Second Street between Court and Market Streets. Then, in 1881, the plant moved to a leased building at the Northwest corner of Third and Gay Streets. Shoes that were previously made by hand (and foot power) could now be made in this new powered plant.

In 1891, Drew, Selby and Company acquired property at Findlay and John Streets (a city block,) and built their factory at this location. In 1906, Drew was bought out, and the corporate name was changed to Selby Shoe. In 1927, Selby had become the eighth largest maker of shoes in the world with orders being shipped to many other countries of the world, with over 2,000 workers employed at Selby’s.

(Bob Boldman. “Portsmouth -Shoe Capital an Era of Growth.” https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/opinion/columns/34440/portsmouth-shoe-capital-an-era-of-growth. Portsmouth Daily Times. January 18, 2019.)

Selby Shoes began a decline in the 30s and 40s. Selby’s management found their high end lines of women shoes losing market share, and the once thriving company fell victim to a hostile takeover in 1957. While the exodus of Portsmouth's Drew Shoes in 1937, following that year’s devastating flood, marks the start of the industry’s decline, the closure of Selby, in retrospect, now clearly heralded doom for the area shoe workers. Selby’s machines were unbolted and relocated, the former factory used as a warehouse before its demolition in the early 1990s.

(Andrew Lee Feight, Ph.D., “Sole Choice & the Portsmouth Shoe Industry,” Scioto Historical, accessed January 31, 2022, https://sciotohistorical.org/items/show/44.)

3 photos 1927 Selby Shoe Co President George Selby Memorial Program Portsmouth Ohio

/www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia

George Selby

The Lancaster Daily Eagle reported December 2, 1927, that George D. Selby, 81, Portsmouth shoe manufacturer and prominent banker – injured when his automobile skidded off the road near here last week – died in the Sheleterting Arms Hospital, here.

Death, according to physicians who attended, was caused by injuries and bronchial pneumonia.

The article in The Eagle declared …

“Women of the nation walked a fortune right into the pockets of Mr. Selby who made millions in women's shoes headed what is said to be the world's largest plant manufacturing shoes for women, the Selby Shoe Company of Portsmouth, Ohio.

“He is accredited with originating the idea of selling shoes directly to the trade.

“In his early days Selby traveled by horse and buggy displaying the wonders of the first sewing machines. He became an agent for the Singer Sewing Machine Company two years after the close of the Civil War and remained with the company until 1880 when he turned to the shoe manufacturing business and organized the Drew-Selby Company with Irving Drew and Bernard Damon at Portsmouth.

“Irving and Damon previously operated a hand-made shoe company but the new company was a machine plant with a capacity of 100 pairs of women's shoes a day. The first year the company did a $70,000 business.

“Geo. Selby was an ardent prohibitionist and was known throughout Portsmotuh and vicinity for his generous benefactions. He was a member of the Methodist Church and a 32nd degree Mason., a member of the Ancient Arabic Ordez Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and a Knight Templar.

“In addition to his shoe factory at Portsmouth he operated and owned factories at Ironton and Ashland, Ohio.”

(AP. “Wealthy Shoe Manufacturer Dies: Had World's Largest Plant for Manufacturing Shoes for Women.” The Lancaster Daily Eagle. December 2, 1927.)

Historical Note:

The Selby 100 Mile House is an elegant, colonial style, mansion set on over 11 acres along the beautiful Ohio River. The 37-room mansion is located just one hundred miles from Cincinnati, Ohio and one hundred miles from Point Pleasant, West Virginia and is just outside Portsmouth, Ohio. The stone and brick structure was originally constructed, in 1927, as a residence for the prominent, Portsmouth businessman, Charles D Scudder.

The mansion was purchased in 1937 by businessman Roger Selby, president of the Selby Shoe Company, of Portsmouth, Ohio. Roger Selby was not only a distinguished entrepreneur but also a world-renowned breeder of Arabian horses. History states Roger Selby had numerous communications and purchased multiple champion Arabian horses from Lady Wentworth, the famous British royal and owner of Crabbet Arabian Stud Farm. The Selby 100 Mile House & Gardens retained the most famous Arabian Stallion worldwide, during this period, known as “Mirage.”

This is an original 1928 black and white print ad promoting the Arch Preserver Shoes from Selby Shoe Company located at 710 7th Street, Portsmouth, Ohio. Ohio Guide Photographs. Ohio History Connection. 

 

Henry A. Lorberg , “E. J. Corson; Louis Stetzinger; J. J. Rardin; C. H. Harris; Portsmouth Business Ads ,” Local History Digital Collection/ https://www.yourppl.org/history/items/show/21298.

Dark brown leather ladies lace-up boots made by Selby Shoe Company in Portsmouth, Ohio. These boots appear to be about size 6-7. The Selby Shoe Company was first listed in the 1906 Portsmouth City Directory located at John and Seventh (7th) Streets. George D. Selby (1846-1927) was president, Pearl E. Selby (1870-1958) and Sanford P. Selby (1853-1931) were vice-presidents, Mark W. Selby (1880-1959) was secretary, and J.J. Rardin was treasurer. George D. and Lydia Selby listed their residence at 145 Gallia Street.

George W. Farley -- Portsmouth Civil War Veteran And Housing Authority Namesake

 

                                                                  Charles W. Farley

Between 250,000 and 420,000 males under 18 were involved in the American Civil War for the Union and the Confederacy combined.

Given the large number of boys and young men in the American Civil War, compared to the number of older men, one author stated that it "might have been called The Boys’ War." Although the official minimum enlistment age was 18, there were various ways boys got around this – 200,000 were sixteen or under.

(Burke Davis Houhlihan. The civil war: strange & fascinating facts. New York, NY: Fairfax Press. 1982.)

For most young men who survived, the war would never quite be over. It had forced them to endure hardships and to grow up fast enough to take on adult responsibilities. It had shown them just how horrible the world could be. And they would never forget it.

This is a story about a young man – only 16-years-old – who answered the call and became a sergeant in the Union troops during the Civil War. As a soldier and a lifelong resident of Portsmouth, Ohio, Sgt. George W. Farley served his community with unparalleled distinction. His father was born in Virginia, and records don't survive, but you can figure George's slave connections.

One can imagine the determination and drive Farley used to overcome adversity. Many years ago, George's name was chosen to officially honor an important housing project in town. He remains a proud part of the history of our area and state. I hope this brief blog entry opens further exploration of his story and generates more information about one of Portsmouth's finest residents.

George W. Farley was born the son of Jesse Claiborne Farley and Jane (Grant) Farley in Portsmouth, Ohio, on September 25, 1849, in a log cabin at what is now the corner of Kinney's Lane and Franklin Avenue. His siblings include John Farley, Catharine Farley and Franklin Clayborn Farley.

(“George W Farley 1849 – 1940. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Farley-4090.)

George helped his father operate the Underground Railroad. 

George Farley served in the American Civil War in Company H 44th Regiment United States Colored Troops. He was only sixteen years-old when he joined the army and was made first sergeant of Company H. 

Historical Note:

Recruitment of colored regiments began in full force following the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863. The 44th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.

In total, 5,092 Ohio African-Americans served in the USCT. By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war—30,000 of infection or disease.

The 44th USCT was organized in Chattanooga, Tennessee by Colonel Lewis Johnson. Born on March 13, 1841, in Rostock, Prussia, Johnson served as a cadet in the Prussian navy for two years before coming to America in 1855. He enlisted as a private in April 1861, acquiring a commission of captain and wounds from two battles. He was from a family of writers, teachers, and printers, and thus Johnson encouraged his men both white and black to learn to read and write. The 44th regiment also became known as “the singing regiment” thank to the teachings of Rev. Lycurgus Railsback.

The regiment served garrison duty at Chattanooga, Tennessee, until late 1864. They saw battle action in Dalton, Georgia on October 13, 1864. 751 of the 800 regiment men were captured during this fight. 600 of these men, were free African American men, and were part of the largest surrender of African American soldiers during the war.

John Bell Hood’s campaign through North Georgia reached the edge of Dalton, a town his troops were familiar with because they had stayed in Dalton the previous winter. However, Dalton hardly resembled the town they had left when the Atlanta Campaign began: the town was mostly abandoned and had warehouses of supplies. The biggest difference was a garrison composed of a regiment of runaway slaves, the 44th USCT. This was shocking and outrageous to Hood and his men because many of these soldiers were escaped slaves from the North Georgia and Tennessee area.

Late in the morning on October 13^th Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee approached Dalton and cut off all lines of retreat. The Union defenders which included the 44^th USCT under Colonel Lewis Johnson barricaded themselves in Fort Hill. This was an earthen fort built upon high ground east of downtown Dalton. Below them a grim site developed as Confederate artillery deployed on heights across from them, and thousands of infantry filled in the space around.

Confederate General William B. Bate’s and his men were assigned to capture the fort. A message was sent to Colonel Lewis Johnson.

“I demand the immediate and unconditional surrender of the post and garrison under your command, and should this be acceded to, all white officers and soldiers will be paroled in a few days. If this place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be taken. Most respectfully, your obedient servant, J.B, Hood, General.”

According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Hood vowed to take no prisoners if the Union defenses were carried by assault and later added that he "could not restrain his men and would not if he could."

According to Bate’s records the offer was initially refused. After the refusal, Bate had his men fire several rounds into the stockade and shortly after a white flag was raised. Johnson really had no choice. His garrison of 751 men and two cannons were no match for the 20,000 men and 30 cannons of Hood’s that surrounded them. Colonel Johnson later claimed that his black troops showed the “greatest anxiety to fight,” they did not want to surrender. They knew that capture would bring them great hardships, such as being sold back into slavery or forced into labor for the Confederate army.

After surrender, Johnson secured paroles for himself and the 150 other white troops. The 600 African American men of the 44th USCT were not given the same treatment. At first, they were put to work tearing up parts of the Western & Atlantic Railroad. Private William Bevins of the 1st Arkansas remembered, “The prisoners were put to work tearing up the railroad track. One of the Negroes protested against the work as he was a sergeant. When he had paid the penalty for disobeying, the rest tore up the road readily and rapidly.”

Other cases of abuse occurred, and constant threats were issued forth as the prisoners were forced to move off with the army. Within days, notices were appearing in Southern newspapers announcing the capture of “Negroes” at Dalton—they were never referred to as “soldiers”—and for the owners to come claim them. Some 250 were claimed and most like killed or tortured for having runaway. Of the remaining men a few managed to escape, some simply disappeared, and the rest were taken with the army to do a number of tasks, eventually set to work repairing railroads in Mississippi as the army moved into Tennessee.

By December 1, 1865 only 125 men of the 44^th USCT remained alive. The division mustered out of service April 30, 1866. Much remains unknown about the men who would have fought to the death at what we now call Fort Hill in Dalton, GA. We do know they were brave in the face of such hate and ultimately death for many. A plaque has been posted in their honor at the top of Fort Hill. From slavery’s rags to the Union uniform of the 44^th United States Colored Infantry.

(“The Brave Men of 44th USCT.” https://www.civilwarrailroadtunnel.com/2021/02/26/the-brave-men-of-44th-usct/. Tunnel Hill Heritage Center and Museum.) 

USCT at an abandoned farmhouse in Dutch Gap, Virginia, 1864

Erected by the Georgia Historical Society, the Georgia Battlefields Association and the Georgia Department of Economic Development

Farley was mustered out of service on February 27, 1866, after a full year of service.

At the close of the war, he returned to Portsmouth with honorable discharge. Several years later Farley married Mary Taylor and reared one of the largest families in Portsmouth. The veteran died at March 25, 1940, at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Daisy White and granddaughter, Mrs. Virginia Fox, in Cleveland.

Fraley worked for the Johnson Hub & Spoke Company for 16 years, and he was houseman for Mrs. J.J. Rardin for 25 years. He also worked on river boats from several years.

His wife and he were the parents of 10 children. Records show the following names:

George W Farley (25 Sep 1849 - 25 Mar 1940) m. Mary Taylor (abt Jul 1848)

1. Frankey Farley (abt 1869)

2. Jesse Farley (abt 1873)

3. Clara Farley (09 Sep 1875)

4. Preston Farley (abt 1878)

5. Daisy Farley (abt Jun 1879)

6. George W Farley Jr (abt May 1882)

7. Raymond Farley (24 Aug 1884)

8. Lulu Farley (abt Jul 1887)

9. Florence Farley (03 Mar 1890 - 29 Jun 1968)

10. Fred Douglass Farley (28 Sep 1892 - 23 Nov 1975)

Wife of George W. Farley – Mary Farley (formerly Taylor)

Born about Jul 1848 in Virginia, United States

Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]

[sibling(s) unknown]

Father of George W. Farley – Jesse Claiborne Farley

Born about 1797 in Virginia, United States. He passed away in 1886

Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]

Mother of George W. Farley – Jane Farley (formerly Grant)

Born about 1814 in West Virginia, United States

Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]

[sibling(s) unknown]

(“George W Farley 1849 – 1940. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Farley-4090.)

“With the United States cap on your head, the United States eagle on your belt, the United States musket on your shoulder, not all the powers of darkness can prevent you from becoming American citizens. And not for yourselves alone are you marshaled — you are pioneers — on you depends the destiny of four millions of the colored race in this country . . . If you rise and flourish, we shall rise and flourish. If you win freedom and citizenship, we shall share your freedom and citizenship.”

– Frederick Douglass January 29, 1864, Fair Haven, Connecticut; address to the 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry regiment (African descent)

George Farley was a member of the Lucasville Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) until the post disbanded. He participated in Memorial Day events here in 1939. and was the lone Civil War veteran attending the annual celebration.

Historical Note:

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a patriotic organization of the U.S. Civil War veterans who served the Federal Forces. One of its purposes was being the “defense of the late soldiery of the United States – morally, socially, and politically.” But into the earliest hour of well-worn peace after the war, there came the presence of disabled veterans, suffering families, and distressed homes. The aid to these came cheerfully the GAR.

Founded in Springfield, Illinois in early 1866, it reached its peak in membership (more than 400,000) in 1890. For a time, the GAR was a powerful political influence.

Membership declined as veterans died, but as late as 1923, 65,382 members remained. In 1949, six of the surviving veterans met at Indianapolis for the 83rd and last national encampment. In 1956, the GAR was dissolved; its records went to the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. and its badges, flags, and official seal to the Smithsonian Institute.

The GAR was very strong in Ohio. The state encampments attracted thousands of veterans and their supporters. Numerous GAR retirement homes existed in the state. One GAR home became the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home in 1870. The GAR established the home in 1869, and the state government assumed control of it in 1870 to provide Ohio veterans and their children with assistance.

The Ellsworth Post No. 382, Lucasville, Ohio, was chartered September 29, 1883.

(Ohio Dept GAR Archives Ohio Historical Society)

While a flood refugee in 1937, Farley suffered a broken hip (“fractured right thigh”) in a fall on the stops of Lincoln School, and later he was said to have “never really recovered” from the injury.

At the time of his death on March 25, 1940, he reportedly was the oldest person living born in Portsmouth (90 years and six months). 

"As a regiment we cannot be excelled, as men, we have only our equals, but as citizens, our motto is, veni, vidi, vici. We came as soldiers, as men we saw and acted upon, and as the noble handiwork of God, we have conquered one-half of the prejudice that has been for the last half-century crushing our race into the dust. And now . . . it affords us, I say us, for I share in common with my poor benighted race, a happy time in thinking that through the instrumentality of an all-wise Providence we are considered, by all that are lovers of the Union and Freedom, freemen."

– Private Jacob S. Johnson, Company H, 25th USCT, January 22, 1865

Also, when George Farley died, he was Portsmouth's last surviving Union veteran. He was buried with military honors in Soldiers Circle at Greenlawn Cemetery

(“Northend Reunion.” Facebook Group. Jan. 28, 2022. From Portsmouth Times. May 04, 1941.)

Much of the information about George W. Farley was generated from an essay contest sponsored by the Portsmouth Metropolitan Housing Authority to name the housing project in the North End. All essays came from students in Washington School, and Principal E.M. Gentry assisted the housing authority in picking the winners.

From nearly 100 suggestions, the PMHA chose eighth-grader Odessa Barrett, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Barrett, 1209 Findley Street, as the winner. Her essay submitted the name of George W. Farley Square. Six students had actually chosen George Farley for the honor, but Barrett wrote the most outstanding essay. 

As second place winner, seventh-grader Patricia White, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Irvine White, 1034 15th Street, recommended naming the housing project for Mrs. Louise White, active as a leader for civil rights in the area for many years. Patricia's father was employed by the Norfolk & Western Railway.

Please click here to watch a YouTube video of Soldier's Circle Greenlawn Cemetery Portsmouth, OH: 

 

Before and after images of drummer boy “Jackson”
Photo Source: From Carlisle Military History Institute via To look like men of war: visual transformation narratives of African American Union Soldiers; see also here, page 7.

What’s going on here? According to Corbis Images, the boy in the “Portrait of ‘Contraband” Jackson,’ (is) supposed to look like many of the runaway slaves that flocked to the banners of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Used in combination with a photograph of Jackson as a drummer in military uniform, this was circulated to encourage enlistments among African Americans.” Indeed, the photographs make a poignant appeal to the conscience of black men: if a young boy was willing to serve, then why shouldn’t you? 

                                                              Lucasville GAR Members

"Maus" Holocaust Censorship In McMinn County Tennessee -- Who Is Socially Engineering Whom?

 

Despite it being part of a state-approved eighth grade curriculum, the members of the school board in McMinn County, outside of Chattanooga, banned “Maus” in a unanimous vote earlier this month.

The vote finally received media attention January 27, 2022, just hours before the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The removal has led to backlash on social media from politicians, journalists, organizations and more.

The 10-member McMinn County School Board voted unanimously in a January 10 meeting to remove the book from its eighth-grade curriculum, citing concerns over "rough" language and a nude drawing of a woman, according to meeting minutes posted to the district website. The vote came after discussions about the book's content, how to best teach students about the Holocaust, age appropriateness and the values of the school district and community.

“Maus” remains the only graphic novel to receive a Pulitzer Prize.

(Dan Mangan. “Tennessee school board bans Holocaust graphic novel ‘Maus’ – author Art Spiegelman condemns the move as ‘Orwellian.'” CNBC. January 26. 2022.)

In a statement posted on its website Thursday, after numerous media articles detailed the controversy, the McMinn County Board of Education said the board voted to remove “the graphic novel Maus from McMinn County Schools because of its unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide. Taken as a whole the board felt this work was simply too adult-oriented for use in our schools.”

The school board added in their statement that they “do not diminish the value of 'Maus' as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust.”

“To the contrary we have asked our administrators to find other works that accomplish the same educational goals in a more age appropriate fashion,” the board said. “The atrocities of the Holocaust were shameful beyond description, and we all have an obligation to ensure that younger generations learn of its horrors to ensure such an event is never repeated.”

One board objected to Spiegelman’s past work with Playboy magazine and noted that this book “shows people hanging, it shows [Nazis] killing kids.” He then asks, “Why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff?” – a genuine demonstration of his own ignorance of Spiegelman’s intent, which was to warn against the evils of the Holocaust by showing its horrific brutality.

Consider the irony. Several members of the McMinn County Board of Education insisted they did not object to their students learning about the Holocaust — but they all still voted to ban “Maus,” which raises questions about how committed they are to ensuring their students learn.

Culture Wars

Of course school boards and parents should be a part of curriculum decisions in public schools. However, the so-called culture wars have caused conservatives to force local schools to ban books, particularly those written with the perspectives of ethnic and gender minorities.

With the rush to ban critical race theory, conservatives already gave up posturing as defenders of free speech. A mania on book banning is part of their broader attack on public schools – anger over CRT, mask mandates, and even QAnon-inflected fears about pedophile conspiracies. Banning books and ideas that make them uncomfortable is part of the conservative playbook of cultural grievance.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, recently said that during her 20 years with the organization, “there’s always been a steady hum of censorship, and the reasons have shifted over time. But I’ve never seen the number of challenges we’ve seen this year.”

The fight about who controls school libraries is a microcosm of the fight about who controls America, and the right is on the offense. Absent a societal commitment to free expression, the question of who can speak becomes purely a question of power, and in much of this country, power belongs to the right.

Caldwell-Stone said …

“What we’re seeing is really this idea that marginalized communities, marginalized groups, don’t have a place in public school libraries, or public libraries, and that libraries should be institutions that only serve the needs of a certain group of people in the community.”

(Michelle Goldberg. “A Frenzy of Book Banning.” The New York Times. November 12, 2021.)

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, issued a statement condemning the removal of "Maus" in McMinn County schools. He called it "typical of a trend we’re seeing around the country of right-wing politicians attempting to shield themselves from the painful truths of history" and said he hopes to see the school board's decision reversed.

(Mel Fronczek. “Defense of 'Maus' erupts online after McMinn County schools remove it from curriculum.” Nashville Tennessean. January 27, 2022.)

Ban It

Let's look at some other recent decisions to ban books and other so-called “objectionable material …

In October 2021, a Texas school district temporarily withdrew copies of a book, "New Kid," – a John Newbery Medal winner – that explains the unintentional "micro-aggressions" an African-American child suffers because of the color of their skin. The graphic novel follows the experience of a seventh grader navigating life as a person of color at a predominantly white school.

In Virginia, parents fought to have the widely lauded book "Beloved" by Black author Toni Morrison, a winner of the Nobel prize for literature, removed from reading lists. The novel is about slavery – including, but not limited to, the sexual abuse that it encouraged and relied upon as a tool of power. Significantly, “Beloved” is also about a mother, Sethe, seeking to protect her child from the horrors of that institution, which includes protecting her from sexual assault.

In York County, Pennsylvania, the school district that had banned a list of anti-racism books and educational resources by or about people of color — including children’s titles about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. — reversed its nearly year-long decision in September 2021 after backlash and protests from students, parents and educators in the community.

The Central York School District had implemented “a freeze” last fall on a lengthy list of books and educational resources that focused almost entirely on titles related to people of color. The all-White school board had taken months to vet books and materials such as children’s titles on Parks and King, education activist Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography, the Oscar-nominated PBS documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” about writer James Baldwin and CNN’s “Sesame Street” town hall on racism.

In November 2021, a list of nine books has started a bitter battle in a Utah school district (Canyons School District) over pornography and censorship and who can control what students read. The latest culture confrontation began about a month ago, when a mom first emailed administrators at Canyons School District about the titles that she found concerning. She had heard about them on social media and discovered they were in the high school libraries in her district’s suburbs at the south end of Salt Lake County.

Most of the books she listed focus on race and the LGBTQ community, including The Bluest Eye by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison and Gender Queer, a graphic novel about the author’s journey of self-identity that has been at the center of the growing movement over banning books in school districts across the country.

Other books on the list include Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez, about the relationship between a young Mexican American girl and a Black teenage boy in 1930s Texas and Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson, which is a fictional story about a Black girl who goes missing and whose disappearance is dismissed as “just another runaway.” The book delves into racism, mental illness, friendship and consent, received the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for New Talent. 

The “Maus” Case

"Maus," written by comic artist Art Spiegelman, is a graphic novel that tells the story of his Jewish parents living in 1940s Poland. It follows them through their internment in Auschwitz. Nazis are depicted as cats, while Jewish people are shown as mice. The book was published in 1986, and Spiegelman was awarded a Pulitzer for it in 1992.

Nick Ramsey, senior producer with MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” says the first time he saw the cover of “Maus,” he “stopped cold,” as the drawing on its cover depicts two mice huddled under a large, menacing swastika and the face of a cat sporting the same narrow mustache as that of Adolf Hitler.

Ramsey believes his own experience with “Maus” demonstrates its unique ability to teach students a difficult lesson at just the right stage of development. He was 11 or 12 years old at the time and already a voracious reader. But he had never seen a book like it anywhere, let alone in my public school library.

Ramsey remembers …

“I recognized the swastika, and I knew the Nazis were the bad guys, thanks to 'Indiana Jones' movies and 'Captain America' comics. I had seen books about World War II before, but they were very different. There were clearly fanciful characters on the cover of this one, but they were not superheroes standing up to the evil villains. The ominous cover conveyed that a much more serious story was being told.

“I was even more intrigued when I opened up 'Maus' and discovered not just words, but also a story told in comic strip style. This wasn’t 'The Amazing Spider-Man' or 'Uncanny X-Men.' The story told in these comic panels was shocking, tragic — and deeply rooted in truth.

“I immediately took the book to the checkout counter, then put it in my green backpack and counted the minutes until I could get home and read through its mysterious pages.

“I found the book challenging. It depicts the brutality of the Holocaust in an exceedingly effective manner, with taut dialogue and stark artwork. Like George Orwell in 'Animal Farm,' Spiegelman tells a brutal story with animals. In 'Maus,' the author depicts the Nazis as cats and the Jews they slaughtered as mice. The story is conveyed in flashbacks as a father explains to his son how he survived the Holocaust, mirroring Spiegelman’s conversations with his own father …

“Alone in my room, this exceptional book and its blend of biography, art, history and fiction upended my naive understanding of the depths of human depravity and the heights of resilience. 'Maus' taught me more than the history of the Holocaust. It expanded my understanding of how difficult stories can be told. Spiegelman shared a deeply personal story pulled from one of history’s darkest eras – a story about love and loss and tragedy and brutality and survival – and he used comic book drawings of animals to bring harsh truths to life in a way that words alone never could.”

(Nick Ramsey. “Ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, banning the book 'Maus' is a modern-day tragedy.” MSNBC. January 27, 2022.)

Ramsey was so moved by the story told in “Maus” that he eventually bought his own copy. He has traveled with it, loaned it out, and reread it several times. He says that the story continues to resonate with him today and provide new relevance as society grapples with its lessons. He laments that McMinn County students will not have an education that includes the difficult lessons the book can teach them and educators who respect them enough to teach those difficult lessons.

The Author's Reaction

“I’m kind of baffled by this,” Art Spiegelman, the author of “Maus,” told CNBC in an interview about the unanimous vote by the McMinn board to bar the book.

“It’s leaving me with my jaw open, like, ‘What?’” said Spiegelman, 73, who only learned of the ban after it was the subject of a tweet Wednesday – a day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

He called the school board “Orwellian” for its action.

Spiegelman also said he suspected that its members were motivated less about some mild curse words and more by the subject of the book, which tells the story of his Jewish parents’ time in Nazi concentration camps, the mass murder of other Jews by Nazis, his mother’s suicide when he was just 20 and his relationship with his father.

“I’ve met so many young people who ... have learned things from my book,” said Spiegelman about “Maus.” The image in the book that drew objections from the board was of his mother.

(Minutes of the Jan. 10 meeting available online reveal that the board members said they objected to the book’s use of profanity and an image of nudity depicting the dead body of author Spiegelman's mother, who took her own life at age 56.)

“I also understand that Tennessee is obviously demented,” said Spiegelman. “There’s something going on very, very haywire there.”

(Dan Mangan. “Tennessee school board bans Holocaust graphic novel ‘Maus’ – author Art Spiegelman condemns the move as ‘Orwellian.'” CNBC. January 26. 2022.)

Conclusion

“'Maus' has played a vital role in educating about the Holocaust through sharing detailed and personal experiences of victims and survivors. Teaching about the Holocaust using books like 'Maus' can inspire students to think critically about the past and their own roles and responsibilities today.”

– U.S. Holocaust Museum's statement posted to Twitter

The Supreme Court upheld minors’ right to intellectual freedom and access to diverse opinions, ideas, characters, beliefs, etc. In the ruling on Minarcini v. Strongsville (Ohio) City School District, the Supreme Court said that “The removal of books from a school library is a much more serious burden upon the freedom of classroom discussion than the action found unconstitutional in Tinker v. Des Moines School District."

In Tinker v. Des Moines School District, it was found unconstitutional for a school to expel students for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam war. The right to intellectual freedom and to gain knowledge has to come before the right to freedom of expression. Intellectual freedom and freedom of thought influences the freedom to express your opinions and ideas and is vital to the running of a successful democracy.

Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969) set the precedent that students maintain their first amendment right at school. The decision says that students “do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.” Students have the right to read freely as upheld by the Supreme Court.

(Cassandra Michel. “Protect Children’s Intellectual Freedom: End Censorship in Children’s Literature.” Luther College. Oneota Reading Journal. 2019.)

This is the ultimate question about censorship in public schools: Do children's books cater to parents and adult cultural gatekeepers, or to young readers themselves?

Paul Ringel – associate professor of history at High Point University and author of Commercializing Childhood: Children's Magazines, Urban Gentility, and the Ideal of the American Child, 1823-1918 – writes in The Atlantic: “As books address issues of diversity face a growing number of challenges, the related question of which children both the industry and educators should serve has become more prominent recently.”

Ringel explains …

“Who benefits when Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian, which deals with racism, poverty, and disability, is banned for language and “anti-Christian content”? Who’s hurt when Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings’s picture book I Am Jazz, about a transgender girl, is banned?

“The history of children’s book publishing in America offers insight into the ways in which traditional attitudes about 'appropriate' stories often end up marginalizing the lives and experiences of many young readers, rather than protecting them.

“This shared sensibility is grounded in respect for young readers, which doesn’t mean providing them with unfettered access to everything on the library shelves. Instead, it means that librarians, teachers, and parents curate children’s choices with the goals of inspiring rather than obscuring new ideas. Such an approach allows kids to learn how to navigate imaginary worlds filled with differences, with the faith that they will apply those lessons to their own lives.”

(Paul Ringel. “How Banning Books Marginalizes Children.” The Atlantic. October 01, 2016.)

And then, who exactly are these culture war bans serving?

James LaRue, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom believes there’s been a shift toward seeking to ban books “focused on issues of diversity – things that are by or about people of color, or LGBT, or disabilities, or religious and cultural minorities,” LaRue says. “It seems like that shift is very clear.”

The shift seems to be linked to demographic changes in the country – and the political fear-mongering that can accompany those changes, LaRue says. “There’s a sense that a previous majority of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants are kind of moving into a minority, and there’s this lashing out to say, ‘Can we just please make things the way that they used to be?’” LaRue says. “We don’t get many challenges by diverse people,” he adds. In recent years, book challenges have peaked while religious liberty bills were in the news, he says.

For God's sake, the last thing I worry about is a child reading. Any fear I have about the content is assuaged by the fact I understand that child is learning how to cope with the world. And, just look at what is being banned. The themes of the books provide important messages so relevant to today – diversity and historical accuracy often being their primary concerns.

After all, these lists of banned books are not centered on taking out gross pornography or crass materials that advocate sex, violence, drug use, or other entirely inappropriate topics. The book banning frenzy is rooted in fear – fear primarily about how the instruction of the lives and history of people of color (POC), especially Black people, will create illegitimate social engineering – something the right, Republicans, and many religious groups think will undermine their white privilege.

All of this does lead to this ultimate ironic reality – one thing hasn’t changed since the dawn of censorship: having your book banned is very, very good for an author’s sales. “If what you’re trying to do is stop this book from getting into the hands of a minor,” LaRue says, “the surest way to (fail) is to declare it forbidden.”

Reality has a way of slapping us awake, doesn't it? Let's all consider our childhoods and how we found those forbidden fruits to be so satisfying. Who among us can say censors saved us from the horrible fate of falling into somebody's view of salacious literature? Hell, can any of you remember leering over those naked bodies in National Geographic as a kid or your hidden stash of Lolita and Playboys or sneaking out to watch Russ Meyer's Vixen at the local drive-in theater? Don't even get me started on those nasty truck stop eight-tracks of Redd Foxx and others. Oh, of course, I'm just asking. I never indulged … well, at least not too much … that's my story …

 

Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2020

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 156 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2020. Of the 273 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:

The American Library Association’s Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2020 showed that the books challenged the most concern “racism, Black American history and diversity in the United States.”

1. George by Alex Gino
   Reasons: Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting “the values of our community”

2. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
   Reasons: Banned and challenged because of author’s public statements, and because of claims that the book contains “selective storytelling incidents” and does not encompass racism against all people

3. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
   Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism, and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics, and be “too much of a sensitive matter right now”

4. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
   Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint and it was claimed to be biased against male students, and for the novel’s inclusion of rape and profanity

5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references, and allegations of sexual misconduct by the author

6. Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
   Reasons: Challenged for “divisive language” and because it was thought to promote anti-police views

7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
   Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and their negative effect on students, featuring a “white savior” character, and its perception of the Black experience

8. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
   Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and racist stereotypes, and their negative effect on students

9. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
   Reasons: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and depicts child sexual abuse

10. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
    Reasons: Challenged for profanity, and it was thought to promote an anti-police message

Billy Adams -- Local Connections And the Rockabilly Hall of Famer

 

What do you know about rockabilly legend Billy Adams? Do you know he is from Greenup, Kentucky? Adams was a real force in American popular music – a rock-and-roll pioneer known as "Kentucky's Own Native Rockabilly Son" – who continued to wow crowds all over the world until his passing at the age of 79 in 2019.

Let me whet your appetite about the Rockabilly Son with a sterling review of one of his performances in 2004 …

“Billy Adams and his band, the New Rock-A-Teers, returned to England recently for two successful shows at the Americana International Festival in Newark, Nottinghamshire, on July 10 and 11, 2004. The festival, billed as an 'American lifestyle' event, is one of the largest in Europe, and attracts people from all across the continent. Adams was one of the headliners in a stellar concert lineup that included Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings (former bass player from the Rolling Stones), Albert Lee, Narvel Felts, and Dave Edmunds, among dozens of groups performing mostly American music.

“For Saturday's show (7/10), Adams and crew were in top form and he wowed the crowd with a program that he calls 'Roots 2 Rockabilly and Beyond,' a powerful musical mix of his own songs and some early influences that shaped his style. He opened with a rousing 'Mystery Train,' from the original 'Hillbilly Cat' Elvis, followed by his own late 50's rockers "That's My Baby," and "You Heard Me Knocking." Adams then took the gathered fans down memory lane with short bits of real Americana music from Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family.

“Then it was time to kick it into high gear with a powerful combo of 'That's All Right' and 'Mama Don't Allow' where he produced what has now become his trademark showstopper, an amplified lard bucket lid, which he banged on with joy, raining the notes down in time with the music, which produced an effect somewhere between skiffle and the latest sample from a cool hip-hop artist. The crowed roared their approval.

“Next came a segment of American country classics, 'Oh, Lonesome Me,' 'Pick Me Up on Your Way Down,' and 'The Smoke Comes Out My Chimney (Just the Same),' from the hillbilly master, Skeets McDonald. Adams proceeded with his own 'You Gotta Have a Duck Tail,' from 1959, which has become a cult classic in Europe, and it brought knowing cheers from the fans.

“These tunes were the perfect foil to what followed next, Adams' European debut of his world-class piano skills. Wasting no time, he fired up the ivories on Big Joe Turner's 'Shake Rattle and Roll,' and segued into the universal favorite, 'Great Balls of Fire.' While Adams pounded the piano, Dave Moore burned notes on the guitar, and drummer Clif Doyal and upright bassman Wayne Hopkins held fast like a well-oiled Cummins diesel engine roaring down the road. When the song spiked to an end, the whole audience erupted in applause.

“Switching back to guitar, Adams performed 'Hey Jesus,' an original gospel guitar-driven shuffle, then it was straight into Carl Perkin's 'Matchbox,' followed by Adams latest rock 'n' roll composition, 'Hey Little Connie,' which ended the set.

“As the announcer called Billy Adams' name to the masses, the entire gathering rose to their feet, and showed their desire for an encore. Adams and the band obliged, and gave the crowd what they wanted, the song that most of them came to hear, Adams' evergreen song from 1957, 'Rock, Pretty Mama,' which has been featured on dozens of record compilations released in Europe over the years. The bouncy hillbilly tune from the dawn of rock 'n' roll capped a perfect set.

“After the show, Adams signed many autographs, visited with fans from many countries, and interviewed with a radio station from Liverpool.”

(“Billy Adams Makes a Triumphant Return to England. http://www.rockabillyhall.com. July 17, 2004.)

Today, let me share the story of Billy Adams with you. His great musical legacy lives on. It is a local tale about international influence and fame. Share the facts with your loved ones – a true success story is such a blessing. Read and rock on, you seminal rock music aficionados. 

Biography

This biography is largely taken from the Rockabilly Hall of Fame website and the information about “Billy Adams.” Access all articles by clicking here: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/billyadams1.html.

Billy Adams was born March 6, 1940, to a family of fourteen children in Redbush, Johnson County, Kentucky. His father worked as a coal miner in the Van Lear coal mine (the same one mentioned in Loretta Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter"). His mother kept the house, and cared for 14 children.

Money was scarce for the family. In those hard times Billy's interest in music and writing began to surface, and he began to dream dreams that were far greater than the poverty that shackled his family to the Appalachian hills.

Billy was influenced by hillbilly artists such as Bill Monroe, the blue yodeler Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, Merle Travis, and Moon Mullican, with songs and sounds that came into the house from an old battery operated radio. On Saturday nights, the broadcast from the Grand Ole Opry sparked images of strange and fanciful places in young Billy's mind.

He recalls, "I vividly remember many times looking up over the tall slender pine whose tiny green needles seemed to pierce the blue-green sky, and dreaming of the day when I would play my very own guitar – like the singers that I heard on the radio – and it would take me to places far over the hills."

"I've loved singing ever since I heard Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family on the radio. We had an old radio powered by batteries in our house. The reception wasn't always that great, but I was immediately drawn to the way Jimmie Rodgers phrased his lyrics. He was a big influence; and the Western swing pianist Moon Mullican, he used to pound those keys, he was another major influence. And, of course, when I heard Elvis in 1954, that was kind of like validating what I was doing, because his songs were using that great beat.”

– Billy Adams (Ron Wynn. “Return of the Rocker.” The Nashville Scene. February 2003.)

Sadly, the reality was that Billy's family could not afford to buy real musical instruments, so he and his older brother Charles found other ways to express their music – singing at the top of their voices to their own accompaniment of pounding on lard bucket lids. This improvisation would later prove to be a very prominent force in Billy's music.

The family moved many times in search of work after Billy's father developed lung trouble from working in the mines. After one move to Greenup County, Kentucky, his father was able to borrow a Harmony Monterey guitar from a kind neighbor, and he taught his sons to play the simple chords that he knew. Billy's dream was starting to take shape.

Billy's lonesome, rebellious voice was first heard on radio in 1952, at WCMI in Ashland, Kentucky. During that performance, it just came natural for the 12 year-old to pound out the same rhythm on the guitar that he had created on the lard bucket lid. The crowd loved it.

In early 1954, Billy heard Elvis Presley for the first time on the radio, and he heard in Elvis' music the same driving rhythm style. That was his cue. Billy organized his first band, and called them The Rock & Roll Boys. With Billy on the pounding acoustic rhythm guitar, his brother Charles, on the electric lead guitar, and Curtis May on the upright bass, it was a three-piece band, just like Elvis had. The die was cast.

Billy left school after the eighth grade and went on the road with his older brother Charles. Having learned the basic guitar techniques from their dad, the brothers practiced a lot and performed in bars and clubs. After adding a bass player to the line-up (Curtis May), they began to call themselves The Rock ’n’ Roll Boys.

The Quincy Record

Around this time, Billy wrote a song that he believed in strongly, and a local entertainer named Luke Gordon, who owned a record label – Quincy Records – encouraged Billy to record the song, “Rock, Pretty Mama.”

Billy traveled to Cincinnati to record "Rock, Pretty Mama." Gordon later released the single on his Quincy Records label in 1957. Only 500 copies were pressed, but today “Rock Pretty Mama” has achieved cult status as a rockabilly recording. Critics recognize the work as "a seminal rockabilly classic.”

(“Billy Adams.” All Music Biography. www.allmusic.com.)

The band soon found themselves in demand, and began touring throughout the Midwest. At one point, hoping to take the next step up the ladder of success, Billy stopped at a pay phone in Springfield, Missouri, and made a call to Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.

After introducing himself on a call as "Billy Adams from Kentucky, a sixteen year-old boy with a record," he received an invitation by "Cowboy" Jack Clement to come to Memphis and audition for Sun. Adams and his band nearly got there. But, fate intervened, and right after the call, his '49 Ford broke down. With no money to repair it, he sold it for fifty dollars, and he the band beat a hasty retreat back home on a bus. Little did he know that the trip to Memphis would not happen for many years to come.

"It was an incredible time, a period when you could take all kinds of musical chances, and when no one really knew for sure what might or might not be a hit. I think if we could have made it at Sun back then, we'd have had a shot at really being big."

– Billy Adams (Ron Wynn. “Return of the Rocker.” The Nashville Scene. February 2003.)

Back at home, the band caught the attention of Glenn McKinney during their regular gigs in Portsmouth (including a stint at the 440 Club). McKinney of West Portsmouth had a studio and record label, Nau-Voo Records.

After hearing Billy sing several times at the club, McKinney offered him a record deal. On March 1, 1957, in a garage studio where the echo chamber was an outside fuel tank, and the studio itself was barely big enough to breathe in, Billy and the band recorded two of his original compositions, "You Heard Me Knocking" and "True Love Will Come Your Way."

McKinney then called on his long time friend, Frank Porter, and he arranged a deal with Randy Wood to release the songs on Dot Records, in January 1958.

By the end of the decade, Billy and his band, now named The Rock-A-Teers, recorded six more songs for the Nau-Voo label. Billy’s next three singles were released on Nau-Voo, credited to “Billy Adams and the Rock-A-Teers.”

“You Gotta Have A Ducktail” was a fine rocker, but the second Nau-Voo 45 was the one that made some genuine noise. “The Return Of the All-American Boy” was a sequel to the Bobby Bare/Bill Parsons smash hit “The All American Boy” and was picked out by Billboard as a Spotlight winner of the week in March 1959. But it failed to make the charts, probably due to a lack of promotion. The final Nau-Voo release came 16 months later, in July 1960, and coupled “The Fun House”, a novelty piece of rockabilly, with the bluesy “Blue-Eyed Ella.”

"I've always thought it was important that the singer believe in what he's singing, and communicate that to the audience. We really loved making those records. The only problem I ever had was having to be on the road so much, and not having songs that I thought were good become as successful as possible because of politics or distribution. Back then, though, I didn't know that much about the business end (of music)."

– Billy Adams (Ron Wynn. “Return of the Rocker.” The Nashville Scene. February 2003.)

Frustrated by the lack of widespread success, and tired by the rigors of the road, the Rock-A-Teers performed their last show together in 1959. Billy now recalls this as the lowest point in his musical career: "When the last song was finished, the show was over, the curtain fellŠthe band was gone. My heart ached for the part of me that was left behind – my brother, my buddies and my sound." 

Although he eventually went on to record dozens of secular and gospel songs in later years, the Nau-Voo sessions brought to a close Billy's early rockabilly career. Today, his records are rare, and sought after by collectors around the world. ("Rock, Pretty Mama" is valued between $1,500-$2,000 in The Official Price Guide to Records: 2002.)

Living his call to the ministry in 1965, Billy Adams spent the next 30 years evangelizing across the country while accompanying himself on piano and writing numerous gospel and country songs.

"I was called by the Lord, and it was time for me to do something completely different with my life. I didn't even think about what it would mean to me commercially. I was concerned about what I could do to help others find the joy that I had discovered. I found that a lot of times, people who'd knoen me from rockabilly or rock 'n' roll, would be fascinated hearing me talk about the Lord. Also, I felt my inspiration to perform and my talent came from God, so it just made sense for me to use everything on his behalf."

– Billy Adams (Ron Wynn. “Return of the Rocker.” The Nashville Scene. February 2003.)

Meanwhile, Adams' recordings remained in circulation; thanks to reissues of his early work by Ace, Bear Family and MCA, Adams and his music continued to enjoy a certain vogue, particularly overseas, where collectors are enamored of Americana of all stripes, notably rockabilly. The trouble was, several other rock 'n' roll singers named Billy Adams had surfaced in the interim, making it difficult at first for Adams to reestablish his identity as a performer.

"One of them died in 1984, and some people thought that was me, especially since I'd been in the ministry and wasn't doing rockabilly or rock 'n' roll tours. I even had a guy come up to me at a show and ask me to sign a record that had my obituary printed on the back."

– Billy Adams (Ron Wynn. “Return of the Rocker.” The Nashville Scene. February 2003.)

Rockabilly compilations containing Rock-A-Teers recordings showed up in the late '80s on labels such as Ace and Bear Family and when a different artist named Billy Adams who recorded for Sun Records passed away in 1984 many tributes confused the two.

Provoked by the swell of attention, Billy returned to the Sun Studios 41 years late to record Legacy, released by Screen Door Records in 2000. The Rockabilly Hall of Fame inducted him the same year. A new Rock-A-Teers was soon formed and started playing at rockabilly revival festivals at home and in England with Billy introducing his boss piano style to the pop world for the first time.

With his career revitalized, Billy began touring with a group of musicians that made up the new Rock-A-Teers band. In October of 2002, he played for the first time in Europe, at "The 29th Hemsby Rock 'N' Roll Show," in England, one of the continent's pre-eminent roots-rock festivals. That appearance coincided with the issue of a 27 track career retrospective, entitled Billy Adams-Rockin' Thru The Years 1955-2002, released on Sanctuary (Castle) Records. The project spans Billy's rockin' career from the '50s thru today.

As a testament to the staying power of a great song, Sanctuary/BMG Records included "Rock, Pretty Mama" on a compilation entitled Rockabilly Riot (released in September of 2003), along with tracks by Elvis, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and others.

2007 marked Billy's 50th anniversary as a recording artist. It is an exciting and busy time for him. He had two well-received shows at the 2007 Americana International Festival, in England. Fifty years on, Billy Adams was still "Rockin'!"

In October 2007, Adams was featured in the Public Radio International (PRI) series, Whole Lotta Shakin'. The series comprises ten one-hour documentaries that explore the artists and artistry of rockabilly – the foundation of rock and roll. Adams is the first voice heard in the "teaser" at the beginning of every show, along with Barbara Pittman, Carl Perkins, Janis Martin and Eddie Cochran. He is quoted in the series opener, "Good Rockin' Tonight," and his story is told in the fourth installment, "Rebels with Guitars."

More infor: https://www.rockabillyradio.org/programs.html

Musicologist Colin Escott summed up Billy Adams best in the liner notes of Rockabilly Riot: "He is now one of the great exponents of rockabilly from the golden era, in demand at clubs and festivals worldwide."

Adams died in Westmoreland, Tennessee, March 30, 2019, twenty-four days after his 79th birthday.

(Clif Doyal Agency. CDA Promotions- Nashville..Rockabilly Hall of Fame)

 

ROCKABILLY ADAMS FACTS:

Billy's Birthday: March 6, 1940

Parents: Charles McKinley & Sarah Rachael Mullins Adams

Siblings: 8 sharing the same parents: Charlie, Dorothy, Lillian, Susie, Faye, Kaye, Elna, and Dianne Adams and 4 "step-siblings" : Wayne, Darcus, Opal, and Dixie Adams.

Wife: Freda Louise Riffe. Their wedding took place in a little church on Argillite Road, in Flatwoods, KY. The minister was E.L. Cyrus, the late grandfather of country music's Billy Ray Cyrus.

Anniversary: July 9, 1961

Children: Tina Maria, Teresa (Reesee), and Janetta Darlene. The girls formed a trio in the early 90's, "Mountain Harmony". For four years, Mountain Harmony performed and recorded Christian country music. They opened for many great country artists and enjoyed a two year stint at the world famous "Renfro Valley", Kentucky's own little Grand Ole Opry.

Favorite Pet: His Siberian Husky "Keeno The King" born Dec. '97.

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Sport: Boxing

Favorite Hairstyle: The Ducktail, of course.