Digital project on American Bandstand now online, featuring video clips, 100+ images and preview of forthcoming book "The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia" (University of California Press, American Crossroads series, Feb 2012).
Counter to host Dick Clark's claims that he integrated American Bandstand, this project reveals how the first national television program directed at teens discriminated against black youth during its early years and how black teens and civil rights advocates protested this discrimination. The project also brings to light the civil rights activism of black deejays like Georgie Woods and Mitch Thomas, whose locally televised teen dance show debuted fifteen years before "Soul Train" and influenced the dance styles on "American Bandstand."
View "The Nicest Kids in Town" digital project at: http://scalar.usc.edu/nehvectors/nicest-kids
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