April 10, 1956: Nat King Cole Is Assaulted Onstage In Birmingham

April 10, 1956, 70 years ago: Nat King Cole, one of the most popular singers in America, is assaulted in mid-concert.

America's favorite black singer -- white adults weren't ready to accept Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard yet -- was playing piano and singing with the Ted Heath Orchestra at the Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama.

Cole sat at his piano before 4,000 people -- all white, as State law required separate concerts for white and black audiences. Three songs in, three white men rushed the stage and attacked him. He fell backward. His suit was torn, and his body was bruised. The audience screamed as police flooded the stage in chaos. Behind the curtain, the orchestra played "God Save the Queen," a desperate attempt to restore order while one of the greatest voices in America lay shaken backstage.

When Cole finally returned to the microphone, the crowd rose as one. They applauded for 10 straight minutes. Many were crying. Quietly, calmly, he said, "I just came here to entertain you. That was what I thought you wanted. I was born in Alabama."

He couldn't finish the show. But later that night -- injured, shaken, and still sore -- Nat King Cole kept his promise: He returned to the theater, and performed for the black audience waiting for their edition of the segregated concert.

The next day, reporters asked how he felt. "I didn’t think I had an enemy in Alabama," he said. "I''m not mad at a soul."

That grace unsettled people. Some civil rights leaders wanted anger. They wanted fire. They wanted confrontation. Cole chose something else.

Six months later, he made history: On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show premiered on NBC. It was the first national television program hosted by a Black American. He performed alongside legends like Ella Fitzgerald and Harry Belafonte. He sang. He played. He smiled with dignity in living rooms that had never imagined a Black man at their center. The ratings were strong. The reviews were glowing.

And still, not one major advertiser would sponsor the show. Corporations feared backlash. Executives worried about Southern customers. So for 13 months, NBC paid for the program alone, hoping sponsors would eventually step forward. They never did.

When the show ended in December 1957, Cole finally named the truth: "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."

In 1965, Nat King Cole died of lung cancer, at only 45 years old. He had lived long enough to see the March On Washington and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but not the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

He understood exactly what he had done: "For thirteen months, I was the Jackie Robinson of television."

The Municipal Auditorium, built in 1924, still stands, at 1930 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard, formerly 8th Avenue, facing Linn Park, and across Interstate 20/59 from the city's main arena, the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.

It was renamed the Boutwell Auditorium, in memory of Albert Boutwell, elected Mayor in 1963 as a rejection of racist Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor. He had previously been Lieutenant Governor and a State Senator. He was defeated for re-election in 1967, and died in 1978.

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That same night, April 10, 1956, the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, beating the team that had beaten them in the last 2 Stanley Cup Finals, the Detroit Red Wings. The Habs won, 3-1 at the Montreal Forum, to win Game 5 and take the 1st of what turned out to be 5 straight Stanley Cups.

Three days earlier, on April 7, the Philadelphia Warriors won Game 5 of the NBA Finals, beating the Fort Wayne Pistons, to win the NBA Championship.