A Smaill Slice of a Really Big Pie. Charlayne Hunter, "Hamp" Holmes, and (?) Gladys Knight!

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Gladys Knight, and the "Royal Peacock Club," Sweet Auburn's Finest

An institution that played a prominent role in the history of what Charlayne Hunter-Gault refers to as “L.A.” (Lovely Atlanta)

SUPPLIMENTARY INFORMATION ON “THE ROYAL PEACOCK”

On New Years Day I took some pictures of structures on Auburn Avenue, with the intention of doing some minimal research on several that I was unfamiliar with. I posted them on FaceBook and this site as an early  February contribution to Black History Month. Here is the short caption provided at that time for “The Royal Peacock:”

“The Royal Peacock,” 186 Auburn Ave. Their website has been hacked. Here is a link to their FaceBook site: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Royal-Peacock/116096898478836
I wish them better luck with FaceBook than I experience. This club is a hub for all things Caribbean, but “Open Mic Night” may be less focused.

This club has a history that goes back much further than its latest iteration as a “Caribbean” and “Open Mic” venue. It has evolved through the decades, and an ability to adapt itself to the market accounts for its survival. I discovered the longevity of the nightclub in the course of reading Charlayne Hunter-Gault‘s 1992 autobiography “In My Place.” In his remarks on one of last Sabbath’s Black Achievement Award winners at Berean, Pastor Russell alluded to “The Talented Tenth” of African Americans, a phrase coined by W.E.B. Du Bois as an activist response to the “accommodation to the status quo” advocated by  Booker T. Washington in his “Atlanta ‘Cotton States’ Exposition Speech.” Growing up, I was aware of Charlayne Hunter-Gault long before I knew anything more of Du Bois or Booker T. Washington than just their names. She visited million of homes each night as one of the correspondents  attached to the old The MacNeil/Lehrer Report (1975–1983).

Born in 1942, Charlayne Hunter-Gault shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Here she is accepting an award in Memphis in 2014.

Being a slow learner, I was in my twenties  before I heard of Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s participation in efforts to desegregate the University of Georgia (in conjunction with  her compatriot “Hamp,” as Hamilton E. Holmes was nicknamed). Ms. Hunter-Gault is a self-confessed member of “The Talented Tenth,” as she was blessed (like MLK) with the wherewithal to be able to acquire a college education. I look forward to a day (should Jesus delay His return) when the current figure of 4.5 million African Americans with four-year college degrees (a figure that is closer to a fifth than a tenth) becomes 100%, and not just for blacks, but for everyone. It will happen automatically when college is free to all. “But it would cost a fortune,” responds the reluctant taxpayer.

An editorial cartoon concerning FDR and his energetic intervention in the Great Depression was featured in an “American Heritage” set of history books I had as a kid. Roosevelt was in a row boat, reeling in a big fish.  A great string of fish he had already caught was tied to the side of the boat. Two other men were in the boat with him. The first complained loudly, “look at how much bait he’s using!” The second pointed to the great harvest of fish and replied, “but just look at the results!” I spent an hour searching for this cartoon, without success.

While fruitlessly seeking an FDR cartoon, this topical (in regard to Bernie Sanders) image kept cropping up during the searches. Kurt Vonnegut loved Eugene Debs, according to this BLOG .

Ms. Hunter Gault’s family moved to Atlanta in 1951, when she was about nine years old. She writes in “In My Place” that she acquired her first boyfriend while attending E.R. Carter school, William Guest. She would sometimes accompany him to Mount Moriah Baptist Church, where he sang in the “Sunbeam” choir with his cousin Gladys Knight. She writes that, from about the time that they were nine years old, the cousins would sing on Saturday nights at the “The Royal Peacock.” The “Peacock’s” website is STILL hacked, so the link is to a Yelp review. I don’t get around much. Without Ms. Hunter-Gault’s hard-copy I would have assumed that “The Royal Peacock” was a relative newcomer, and one that had always catered to West Indian tastes.

The internet has some limitations for superficial investigations like my initial effort. A more “in depth” search yielded a government Survey of “Sweet Auburn,” which reveals that the building “The Royal Peacock” occupies has been a nightclub ever since it was built in the twenties. It has played host to almost every prominent black act you can think of, including Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye. Regular patrons included Joe Loius, Jackie Robinson, and Muhummad Ali. Originally called the “Top Hat,” it was rechristened in 1949 when Carrie B. “Mama” Cunningham took it over, The glory of the venue is celebrated at the following WordPress LINK. It relates that prosperous “Mama” acquired it as a way to keep her rowdy musician son “Big Red” McAllister at home, safe from the temptations and pitfalls of being “on the road.” This club she managed formed a prominent component of the fabled “Chitlin’ Circuit.” I managed to display a world-class level of ignorance when I first mentioned “The Royal Peacock,” but was initially sidetracked in my quest for information, as it is no longer placed squarely in the main current of the history of popular music (except perhaps on amateur night, where the next “Outkast” may be fine-tuning their act). Music from the islands, however, becomes more influential as time goes by. I used to listen to a lot of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh when I was a teenager, but don’t feel worthy to crib their style. “Sting” certainly managed to make a good living by doing this very thing.

Gladys Knight in 1954, when she was 10. Her friend Charlayne Hunter would have been 12. Gladys won on Ted Mack’s talent show when she was 8. The microphones are nearly as big as her head!

The sacred/secular axis, and the inclusion of family members (attributes shared by “The Staple Singers‘) of Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s playmate’s musical effort ultimately led to the formation of the wildly popular group known as “Gladys Knight and the Pips.” Histories of “The Royal Peacock” do not fail to mention its connection to Gladys Knight. The primary location of one of Ms. Knight’s current endeavors is located a stone’s throw from the indestructible Peachtree & Pine homeless shelter in Atlanta. This endeavor is called “Gladys Knight and Ron’s Chicken and Waffle Restaurant.”  My sister and I went to try to eat just as they were opening on a Sunday morning. A homeless man tried to convince us that the adjacent parking lot was free to patrons of the restaurant (an untruth), expectant that we would gratefully reward him for this information.

Only a handful of fellow diners were in the house at that early hour. Not spotting a hostess, we decided to just seat ourselves. After ten minutes of consulting the extensive menus that we had grabbed on the way in, a waitress arrived to tell us that we would have to wait in line to be seated. There was no line, but this detail was not important. This was standard operating procedure for the restaurant, it would appear, not only when it was thronged at peak times, but even when it was practically deserted. There existed a sensitive  issue regarding tradition and prestige in connection with this insane requirement, as there used to be in regard to being admitted to Studio 54.  I would have cheerfully complied with this surreal request, but it was too much for my sister to swallow. We left, without chicken, and without waffles. But this same sister thinks nothing of letting a valet park her car at Buckhead restaurants, even if the car winds up thirty feet from the front door. This is always a scenario that I can never swallow. As noted, however, it is not about common sense. It is about tradition and prestige.

Monday, January 9, 1961, Charlayne and “Hamp” arrive in Athens, shortly to be followed by transfer student Mary F. Early, who was first to graduate in 1962. Hunter and Holmes graduated in 1963.

Traditions are not always worth preserving. Charlayne Hunter-Gault contributed to the destruction of a particularly bad one. I look forward to reading the rest her memoir. Her father was a Captain in the Army, and served as a chaplain. The author is thus an both a “PK” and an “Army Brat,” and spent nine months of her childhood in Alaska, of all places. Church and school were the twin focuses of her youth. Upon arrival in Atlanta, she talked her mother into joining Big Bethel AME Zion Church, a locale on Auburn Avenue I had no difficulty researching  February 1st. Eventually, she came to feel that the powers at Bethel were inordinately preoccupied with fundraising activity. She also felt that the services were too long (as a Berean, I must interject: “Can you ever get too much church?”).
Impressed by the lack of prejudice displayed by Atlanta Catholics, she affiliated herself with this ancient, but erroneous denomination. She also says that she was attracted by it’s “mystery and ritual.” Note: you can get that by joining the Anglican Church in America, who still utilize the  1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. This book is written in the same style as the King James Bible. Read aloud, at breakneck speed by experienced priests, it can be more than a little mysterious. A member of my Sabbath School class at Berean was raised in the Anglican Church, as he hails from Barbados. It’s first permanent colonists were Englishmen who arrived in 1627. They were not religious dissenters, so their Anglican ways were preserved. The first slaves were not Africans, but Irishmen known as “Red legs” for their tropical sunburns. A shift to sugar cultivation in 1640 led to the mass importation of Africans. A recent article in the “Economist” describes the recent rise in the fortunes of Anglicanism in England. It is entirely the result of the enthusiasm of the immigrant community. This article quotes an Anglican Archbishop in regard to the historical requirements for becoming a member of the Church of England. “You have to be born,” he wryly notes

Former slave Saint Augustus Tolton was educated in Rome, and was this nation’s first black Catholic priest. The incomparable St. Augustine of Hippo is considered to be an African (because he was!)

Sabbath’s second Black Achievement Honoree, Solomon Brannard Jr., is also a professing Catholic. A noteworthy  Catholic congregation exists in the Sweet Auburn district. It is Our Lady of Lourdes. They sponsor a Bible Study at the Starbuck’s on Ponce every week. I am just a little curious as to what transpires at these gatherings. Adventist Pastor Michael Kelly has stated that “Scripture trumps tradition.” Quite a few Catholics are on record as having stated “tradition trumps Scripture.” Ms. Hunter-Gault describes her shifted allegiance as an “act of defiance,” She candidly notes that her father, the chaplain, suggested that she stick with Bethel, and try to help them to overcome their problems. He was considered by people of all ranks and races to be a wise man. Here is a LINK to his New York Times obituary. It notes that he was a 32nd degree Mason. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about this fact. This section will be terminated by an image from the recent Sweet Auburn tour, featuring the steeple of “Big Bethel,” with a sign that Charlayne Hunter-Gault says was in place during her childhood.