Reflecting on the ‘Fables of Faubus’

By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher Emerita

Before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the protest songs that accompanied it (think “We Shall Overcome” or “A Change is Gonna Come”), the famed jazz composer Charles Mingus wrote the “Fables of Faubus” in 1959. Mingus was a prolific artist with a discography of hundreds of songs; only Duke Ellington surpassed his productivity. He was recently honored by the Kennedy Center on what would have been his 100th year had he not died in 1979 of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

There are few compositions in jazz that would be considered “protest songs,” and of all his hundreds of works, “Fables of Faubus” is the most explicitly political of Mingus’s work. His reference is to Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus. The governor refused to comply with a unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, and ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black students from attending Little Rock Central High School.

Although Faubus had been accused of being a left-wing liberal and Communist sympathizer, his actions were not from belief, but were politically motivated. He hoped his manufactured crisis over integration would distract the public from recently imposed tax increases. Furthermore, it did not escape his notice the success his political opponents were having in using segregationist rhetoric to arouse white voters. It’s sort of like now, when we are deluged with election commercials about the rising crime rate, but those commercials fail to note the crime rate actually fell to its lowest point in years but ratcheted up again during the pandemic, much of it attributed to homelessness and mental illness. Hm, some things in politics never change.

As it turned out, Faubus was no match for President Dwight Eisenhower, whose military skill played a part in America’s victory in World War II. On Sept. 5, 1957, Eisenhower sent a telegram to Gov. Orval E. Faubus in which he wrote, “The only assurance I can give you is that the Federal Constitution will be upheld by me by every legal means at my command.” Eisenhower did not bring out the big guns, however. Instead, he met with Faubus in Newport, Rhode Island, after which Faubus had a change of heart. 

The quoted “friendly and constructive discussion” led to the governor claiming his desire to comply with his duty to the Constitution, personal opinions aside. The Arkansas governor stayed true to his word, and on Sept. 21, President Eisenhower released a statement that announced that the governor had withdrawn his troops, the Little Rock School Board was carrying out desegregation plans, and local law was ready to keep order. 

But a little more than a week later, Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Wilson Mann sent a telegram to Dwight Eisenhower, stating a mob had formed at Central High School in Little Rock. State police made efforts to control the mob, but for the safety of the newly enrolled children, they were sent home. The mayor stressed how this was a planned act and that the principal agitator, Jimmy Karam, was an associate of Gov. Faubus. 

Double crossing Eisenhower was not too bright. His response was to federalize the Arkansas National Guard, ordering them to return to their armories, which effectively removed them from Faubus’ control. Eisenhower then sent elements of the 101st Airborne Division to Arkansas to protect the black students and enforce the federal court order. 

Few people have not seen the film clips of the nine teenage girls shouldering their way through an irate crowd while being spit on and called names we cannot print here. It is likely Mingus saw those same news reels, prompting him to write “The Fables of Faubus.”

The song was first recorded for Mingus’ 1959 album, “Mingus Ah Um.” However, Columbia Records refused to allow the lyrics to the song to be included, so the song was recorded as an instrumental on the album. It was not until Oct. 20, 1960, that the song was recorded with lyrics, for the album “Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus,” which was released on the more independent Candid label. 

Although the lyrics easily could have gotten Mingus killed in those fractious periods prior to the Civil Rights period, looking at them now, they do little except lampoon Faubus. Take the first two stanzas, for example: 

Oh, Lord, don’t let ‘em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don’t let ‘em stab us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!

Name me someone who’s ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won’t permit integrated schools.

 I had never heard this story, and I bet you hadn’t either, even though Mingus is considered one of the most talented composers America ever produced. The textbooks I grew up with and often the ones in use today waste very little space on black life. The incident in Little Rock was a major inflection point in the Civil Rights movement, but if you know about it, it might be from a dusty old news clip dragged from the vault for the anniversary of the event.

Consequently, I was disappointed at the governor’s debate on Friday evening. Republican candidate Tim Michels said, “It’s time public schools stop teaching CRT and get back to the ABC’s.”

And Gov. Evers (who all evening appeared to wish he was anywhere else but on the debate stage) responded with, “We don’t teach critical race theory in grades K-12.” 

Well, isn’t that just dandy. Evers is a lifelong educator, but perhaps for political reasons, he did not say, “We don’t teach critical race theory, but we sure as heck ought to teach our racial history.” 

I hope he is watching Henry Louis Gate’s recent documentary on PBS, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine.” As Gates points out, from 1865 onward, blacks were developing networks designed to move the race forward. Hundreds of black schools were formed, followed by black colleges that still exist today (think Howard University). 

Perhaps sensing they were not to gain full acceptance in the white community, they formed their own system on the other side of the color line, from banks to beauty shops, insurance companies, manufacturing, newspapers, magazines, churches, social organizations, and many other endeavors. 

In Tulsa, a black community grew so successfully it was known as Black Wall Street. But in 1921, a white mob began a rampage through some 35 square blocks, decimating the community. Armed rioters, many deputized by local police, looted and burned-down businesses, homes, schools, churches, a hospital, hotel, public library, newspaper offices and more. While the official death toll of the Tulsa race massacre was 36, historians estimate it may have been as high as 300. As many as 10,000 people were left homeless. 

Bet you didn’t read about that in your local history book.

What happened to all those early successes of black people after the Civil War? Was it the end of Reconstruction and the rise of segregation and Jim Crow laws? Was it more subtle activities such as red lining neighborhoods, discrimination in lending and hiring, or voting laws designed to make the process as difficult as possible. It’s hard to believe, but this country that prides itself on freedom and opportunity for all waited until March of this year before President Joe Biden signed into law the first bill that specifies lynching as a federal hate crime. In 2015, the Equal Justice Initiative issued a report that detailed more than 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings of black people in America between 1877 and 1950. Yet it took more than 200 attempts dating back a century before Congress finally passed the bill. 

Critical race theory, the latest bogeyman of conservatives like Ted Cruz and Mike Pence, and, yes, our very own Tim Michels for governor are totally clueless on CRT. It began as a complex theory that questions if the law is just and neutral. It certainly is too dense for anyone younger than the oldest high schoolers. Its goal is to increase our understanding and rectify the ways in which a regime of white supremacy and its subordination of people of color in America has had an impact on the relationship between social structure and professed ideals such as “the rule of law” and “equal protection.”

Now that is a mouthful. Think of it in simpler terms. Why, for example, are there so few black families in the farming industry? According to the Equal Justice Initiative, there were a million black farmers in 1914 and 18,000 in 1992. Quoting from the Atlantic, EJI’s website states, “Starting with New Deal agencies in 1937, federal agencies whose ‘white administrators often ignored or targeted poor Black people — denying them loans and giving sharecropping work to white people’ became ‘the safety net, price-setter, chief investor, and sole regulator for most of the farm economy in places like the Delta.’ As small farms failed, large plantations grew into huge industrial mega-farms with enormous power over agricultural policy.”

I cannot imagine how we will ever untangle ourselves from sins, errors and missteps of the past and move forward. But I do know that recognizing the errors of the past will go a long way toward avoiding the same mistakes in the future. 

I didn’t expect much from Tim Michels, but one would hope that a man who spent his life in education and prior to becoming governor, headed the DPI, would not head for a foxhole when the subject of critical race theory comes up. 

Comments are closed.

  • It will be a seemingly endless campaign season

    March 14th, 2024
    by

    By KAREN PARKER County Line Publisher Emerita I would imagine if Eric Hovde has secured any demographic in his campaign […]


    A vibrant press is essential to democracy

    March 11th, 2024
    by

    By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher Emerita Sadly, there was no obituary in the paper for the Vernon Focus. […]


    America’s bent toward fascism

    February 26th, 2024
    by

    Imagine living in a country where the simple act of gathering together to lay flowers after the death of a prominent person could result in a two-week jail sentence.


    In 2024, remember that politics were ugly 100 years ago, too

    February 5th, 2024
    by

    Good grief! We are barely into the new year, and I am ready to go back to 2023 or leap ahead to 2025. Are we really in for an entire year of presidential election babble?


    Looking back on our 40th year, 1983–2023 (part two)

    November 30th, 2023
    by

    By KAREN PARKER County Line Publisher Emerita Forty years is a long time. Sadly, it’s long enough for most of […]


  • Looking back on our 40th year, 1983–2023

    November 27th, 2023
    by

    By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher Emerita Certainly one of the things that has changed a lot over 40 […]


    Private insurers insert profit-over-patient mentality into Medicare

    November 9th, 2023
    by

    By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher Emerita I met Dave Zweifel many years ago, at a Wisconsin Newspaper Association […]


    Does the Parents’ Rights Act ensure any new rights?

    October 12th, 2023
    by

    By KAREN PARKER County Line Publisher Emerita It has been a curious sight last week watching the House of Representatives […]


    Medicare Advantage reflects power insurance companies have over Congress

    September 28th, 2023
    by

    By KAREN PARKER County Line Publisher Emerita If you ever had any doubt about the power insurance companies have over […]


    Celebrating Wildcat’s 75th: The Lord brothers are two intriguing figures from Ontario’s history

    September 15th, 2023
    by

    Of all the colorful and eccentric characters in local history few are as intriguing as two brothers, Ed and Charles Lord. 


    Recalling the flood of 2018

    August 31st, 2023
    by

    If there is anything good about a flood, it does force a major house cleaning. This week marks five years since the flood of 2018 that swept through Ontario, built up steam, and continued on its way to the Wisconsin and the Mississippi, leaving behind a forever-changed landscape in the towns along the Kickapoo River.


  • Archives