Nat King Cole Attacked on Stage in Birmingham by White Supremacists

On April 10, 1956, Nat King Cole is performing at a segregated concert at Birmingham Municipal Auditorium — for an all-white audience — when members of the White Citizens Council rush the stage and attack him, knocking him to the ground. The attack is organized by Asa Carter of the North Alabama Citizens Council, who objects to 'Negro music' being played to white audiences. Cole is injured. Birmingham police arrest the attackers. The incident illustrates that no accommodation of segregationist demands could protect Black artists from racial violence.